Forbidden
by IWillBelieveIt
Summary: For a year, Dan and Zoe have fought their attraction, knowing full well that they can't be together. When they both decide that they can't do it any more, they start a relationship that they have to keep from everyone they know, but how long can you pretend that the one you love means no more to you than a best friend?
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys! I know I said I'm going to be doing _Caroline_, the sequel to _Doppelganger_, but there's quite a time gap between the end of _Doppelganger _and the start of _Caroline_, so I've decided that I'm going to do this before I do _Caroline. _This first chapter's pretty average, but I hope you like it!**

* * *

Zoe sighed and leaned against the door, watching as Dan smiled at her gently. "Are you okay?"

Zoe nodded. "Yeah. Counselling's supposed to help, isn't it?"

Dan shrugged. "I suppose it is. It's just . . . you've been kind of distracted since . . . you know."

Zoe nodded and sighed. "I don't mean to be. It's just . . . It was hard enough to get my head around the idea that I was his daughter. And now," Zoe let her head fall forward so that her hair fell in her face as she mumbled, "I'm his clone. And now I always have to be on guard because otherwise I'm going to end up _as_ him."

Dan's fingers itched to push the hair away from her face and just this once, he allowed the urge to slip through his carefully maintained control. He reached out and brushed the hair away from her face, resting his hand on her cheek. Zoe looked up at him, the corner of her mouth quirking up into a half-smile, but before she could say anything, the door Zoe was leaning against suddenly opened, causing her to stumble. Dan reached out and grabbed her arm to steady her as Zoe looked at who'd opened it. It was a middle-aged woman, with blonde hair pulled up into a bun and pretty blue eyes that were hidden behind glasses.

"Zoe London?" The woman asked.

Zoe nodded. "You're the counsellor?"

"Well, I'm _your _counsellor." The woman replied. "I'm only here at the school until M.I.9 sends me somewhere else." She stepped aside to let Zoe in and then she noticed Dan for the first time. Her eyes narrowed and Dan coughed, turning his attention to Zoe.

"I'll come get you later." Dan said, causing Zoe to smile and say, "It's just a school counsellor, Dan. I'll be fine."

Dan smiled at her. "I'll see you later."

Then, the door closed and Dan walked off to go find Aneisha, as Tom was still in HQ, studying the process that KORPS had tried to use on Zoe at Sternum.

"I'm worried about Tom." Aneisha told him as he approached.

"Of course you are." Dan replied with a grin.

"Dan, I'm serious! He's become fixated on it."

Dan shrugged as a girl with her hair cropped short and dyed pink approached, yelling, "Yo! A to the N to the . . . Neisha! Lady J's new dance crew is looking for some radical movers!"

Aneisha bit back a smile. "No thanks."

"No, you need time to think, yeah. Respect! I'll show the vibe, straight from ghetto." Lady J replied and started dancing. Aneisha tapped Dan's shoulder, showing him her pencil communicator while Lady J's back was turned. Dan and Aneisha dashed off to the broom cupboard, leaving Lady J where she was.

* * *

When Dan and Aneisha got down to HQ, Tom was fiddling with the computers, but Zoe hadn't arrived yet.

"Aren't you going to blow a fuse?" Aneisha asked Tom.

"No, I'm syphoning off extra power from the school." Tom replied as the lift doors opened, revealing Zoe, wearing a long high-necked black jacket, black skinny pants and black combat boots. Her hair was twisted up into a bun and she looked apologetic as she moved to stand beside Dan as Aneisha said, "I meant a fuse in your brain. Tom, you need to take a break."

"You three need to listen to what Tom has to say." Frank said as they all gathered around the table.

"I've been studying the process that KORPS used to transfer the Mastermind's consciousness into Zoe's brain."

"_We know that_." Zoe said, crossing her arms over her chest.

Tom rolled his eyes. "_My point is_ it didn't work."

"We know, we stopped it." Dan said.

"That's the point, we shouldn't have had time." Tom explained. "Look, the process only takes three seconds. KORPS got it wrong. Zoe isn't a match."

All heads turned towards Zoe, who let out a shuddering breath of relief and grinned. Somehow, Dan knew she'd been holding that breath for the four months it'd been since they rescued her from Sternum.

"So who is a match?" Zoe asked.

"I've been looking into that too. It's a girl called Keri. Apparently she was given some special treatment away from the others that makes her ideal. KORPS thought it hadn't worked and got rid of her. It looks like they were wrong."

"We need to hurry." Frank said. "If we can work out that Keri's a match, then so can KORPS."

* * *

"After a short time in a children's home, Keri was adopted by a regular family." Tom explained as the four of them walked through the halls of St Heart's High School.

"She won't have any idea about any of this. I just hope that we get to her before they do." Aneisha said, before Lady J appeared in front of them. "Yo, Neisha! Check it and respond!"

She started dancing and too concerned about finding the Mastermind's clone to worry about Lady J's dancing, they brushed past her.

"Frank, can you send us photos of Keri?" Zoe asked into her pencil.

"I'll send them to your spy pod." Frank replied. "Good luck, team."

* * *

The four of them, somehow, managed to huddle behind a pair of trashcans only several metres down from a bus station as a girl with auburn hair the same colour as Zoe's approached a pole that said all the bus times on it. Dan glanced down at his spy pod and opened it, confirming that the girl was in fact Keri.

"How about we tell her she's won a holiday, but to collect she has to come with us?" Tom asked.

"How about we tell her the truth?" Aneisha shot back.

"Guys. How about you stop fighting and help me save my sister?" Zoe asked, getting up as two guys dressed in KORPS suits grabbed Keri. As Dan and Zoe, crept around behind the two guys, Tom and Aneisha grabbed a trashcan each.

"Hey!" Keri cried, struggling. "Can you weirdos let me go? If I'm not at Trina's in an hour, she'll never speak to me again!"

"Excuse me!" Tom shouted as he and Aneisha approached, causing the KORPS thugs and Keri to turn their attention to them. "Does the number twelve bus stop here?"

Keri glanced quickly between her captors before she looked back at Tom and Aneisha. "They don't really know about buses. They're more the '_Oi, you! You're coming with us!' _types. The twelve doesn't stop here."

"That's okay." Aneisha said as she and Tom came to a halt in front of Keri. "We only said that to get close enough to rescue you."

Keri looked confused as Dan and Zoe appeared behind the KORPS soldiers. Dan kicked one while Zoe grabbed the other and pulled him away from Keri. Tom and Aneisha dumped a trashcan each over the guys' heads. Zoe shoved the two guys together, and they crashed into each other, falling to the ground. Dan grabbed Keri's arm, but Keri pulled back. "Hang on. I don't want to go with you either. I've had a really busy day and you've all clearly got me mixed up with someone else, so I'll just . . ." She turned away and Zoe glanced quickly between her friends. "The truth?"

Dan nodded and Zoe turned to her sister. "Your name's Keri. You've got a mark on your arm like this," she said, pulling up the sleeve of her school blazer to reveal the code stamped onto her arm. Keri stared at it and then lifted up her own sleeve to reveal 'J.4.5.K.3.R.1.' stamped into the inside of her elbow as Zoe continued speaking.

"The greatest threat to the world is called The Mastermind. He created you in a lab from his own DNA and now he's looking for you so he can put his mind into your head. My name's Zoe, I'm your sister, we work for M.I.9 and we're trying to save your life. Any questions?" Zoe asked.

"Yeah." Keri said, sounding and looking a little dazed. "Do I have any super powers?"

Zoe glanced at Dan as he said, "Shall we go before the gorillas sort themselves out?"

Keri nodded and trailed after them as they took off running down the street. As they ran, Dan glanced over at Zoe to see how she was coping with meeting Keri. He was surprised to see that she looked a little more at ease with herself now, as if meeting Keri had made it well and truly sink in that she was safe from being turned into the Mastermind.

As they walked into the school and Tom blindfolded Keri, Dan walked behind Zoe and murmured in her ear, "You okay?"

"I'm fine." Zoe replied. "I'm a lot better than I was, actually."

Dan smiled. "I'm glad."

* * *

**I know this was a pretty average chapter, but it will get better! I promise!**


	2. Chapter 2

Keri was blindfolded as Dan and Zoe helped her out of the lift, before Dan joined Tom, Aneisha and Frank at the table in the centre of the room. Zoe stayed at her sister's side and took off her blindfold when Frank nodded. Keri looked around with a rapt expression as Frank said, "Welcome to M. ."

When Keri noticed the long coat Zoe was wearing as she moved to stand beside Dan, her expression soured. "How come I didn't get a spy outfit? I would look _good _in that stuff."

"You don't get a spy outfit because you're not a spy. Now could you try and focus; there's some important stuff going on here." Dan said, causing Keri to roll her eyes at him. Zoe and Aneisha glanced at each other and tried desperately not to laugh, although some giggles did escape.

"Hey, if this is all about what happened when I was little, does that mean that Libi's in danger too?" Keri asked.

"Who's Libi?" Tom asked.

"The other girl in the lab. We went through _everything _together." Keri replied, suddenly looking upset as Tom walked over to the computer and started typing as she continued, "She used to stroke my hair when I got scared."

Zoe walked over to Keri and touched her shoulder gently, offering her a small comforting smile. Dan forced a smile back as he watched the two out the corner of his eye before he turned to the computer as Tom said, "Nope, she's not on our files. No record of her anywhere. If she had the same treatment as Keri, she'd be a match too."

"We need to find her." Zoe said desperately. "Wouldn't there be files at the base where Libi and Keri were kept?"

Frank looked down. "It's a secret underground base called The Mayze. The last team we sent to find it vanished twelve years ago. No one knows where it is."

"There is one person who might know." Aneisha said, looking over at Keri.

"Uh, guys . . ." Zoe said, gesturing to Keri, who was filming her surroundings with her phone.

"Are filming our HQ?" Dan asked.

"Yeah!" Keri said excitedly, smiling broadly. "My friends are never going to believe this!"

Frank glanced pointedly at Tom, who started typing away on the keyboard. There was a noise on Keri's phone and she looked down at it, dismayed. "Hey! My phone crashed."

"Yeah, weird that." Tom said, sitting back.

"Keri, we need your help." Zoe said. "Did KORPS ever let you outside?"

Keri looked at her sister and sighed. "Only once. When I left. It's really cold in here. What's with all these white tiles . . . Did this used to be a toilet?"

"No!" Dan cried, his patience with her drawing thin.

"Keri, you need to concentrate." Aneisha said.

Keri looked guilty as Tom said, "The missing team's last report came from the Tower Estate, the base must be near there. Any one detail would help narrow down that location."

All eyes turned on Keri and she glanced at Zoe, who smiled at her encouragingly. "Okay. A canal, maybe two or three . . . a railway bridge over a running track and clown face painted on the wall."

"Got it. All apart from the clown." Tom said.

"We're going to need those records if we're going to find Libi before KORPS. Take Keri, being there may help her memory. You should be safe, The Mayze must have been abandoned years ago." Frank said.

"Fine, I don't want to stay in this freezing-cold toilet all day." Keri said, looking around as she followed Aneisha and Zoe into the lift.

Dan hissed through his teeth. "It's not a toilet!"

* * *

Dan and Zoe were crouched on the ground together while Aneisha searched on a stone staircase off to their side. Keri was rummaging through some rubbish placed against the wall. Zoe looked over her shoulder at her sister and then back at Dan as he scanned the area with his spy pod.

"You don't like her much, do you?" Zoe asked quietly.

"It's just . . . She's not like you." Dan replied as 'Negative' flashed up on the spy pod screen. He pulled out his communicator and said, "No sign of any underground lair."

Dan looked up and Zoe twisted around as the sound of colliding metal filled the air. Keri looked around timidly, but she appeared to be unharmed. Sighing, Dan turned away from Keri as Zoe turned back around. "How is she not like me?"

"She's so unfocused and . . . well, she seems kind of ditzy and self-centred." Dan said, looking up at Zoe. "You're completely selfless."

Zoe flushed and looked down. "I don't know whether that's a compliment to me or an insult to her."

"_So Dan_." Tom's voice said through Dan's communicator. "_Are you ever going to ask Zoe out after what happened at Sternum?"_

"I'm trying to work here, Tom." Dan said as Zoe got up and started helping Keri shift the rubbish against the building. From her spot on the stairs, Aneisha grinned.

"Do you see anything familiar, Keri?" Zoe asked gently. Keri looked unsure and Zoe glanced over her shoulder at Dan and shrugged.

"You know the rules as well as I do." Dan told Tom quietly, so that Zoe wouldn't hear him. Tom didn't know what to say to that.

"Found it!" Keri cried, her hand on the wall. She and Zoe had cleared away all the odd bits and pieces so that they could see the wall and the poster on it – a woman's face covered in heavily apllied make-up. "It must've looked a clown when I was little."

Dan and Aneisha got up, moving towards the two sisters. Dan dragged Keri out of the way as Zoe scanned what they could know see was a door with her spy pod.

"Tom, can you –" Dan started.

"_Ten-year-old defences. Please."_ Tom said. Even though none of the three spies could see him, they all knew he was smiling. Almost as soon as he'd spoken, a section of the wall split in two and then moved away from each other until there was a narrow doorway in front of them.

"_Wow." _Tom breathed. _"This thing is huge. The bottom floor's like half a mile down. I'm not even sure it is the bottom._ _Enter with extreme caution."_

Zoe and Keri walked side by side, with Dan and Aneisha following a few metres behind.

"Tell us if you remember anything, okay?" Zoe said.

Keri nodded and then looked back at Dan and Aneisha excitedly. "Oooohh, can I say 'roger,' like we're on a mission?"

"Yeah, that's fine." Aneisha said.

"Roger that." Keri said happily.

Behind Keri and Zoe, Dan clipped a head cam to his ear as he watched Zoe's retreating back. "Tom, can you see what I'm seeing?"

"_Yep, you see to be looking at Zoe. Do you love her?"_

"Tom, can you _please_ be a little more professional?" Dan asked, annoyed.

"_Fine. Each level of the base was run by a different branch of KORPS. This level's the HQ of their architectural wing, Vision._"

"Vision was KORPS' architectural division." Dan said to Aneisha, shoving his communicator into his pocket.

"Why would they need architects?" Aneisha asked as she followed after Keri and Zoe.

"Pffft, to build massive underground bases, I guess." Dan replied.

They walked down the corridor, with Zoe and Keri a few metres in front until Dan heard someone cry out and then Keri say, "Ewww!"

"Zoe!" Dan shouted, pounding down the corridor until he came to a junction and he looked down the adjoining corridor. He found himself standing next to Keri as he stared down the corridor where Zoe was kneeling down in front of what appeared to be human skeletons.

"Must be the missing team." Dan said, walking a few steps towards Zoe.

"They were so close to the exit, Dan." Zoe said, looking up at him. "Why didn't they just leave?"

"I don't know." Dan said quietly, shaking his head. Sighing, Zoe got up and walked back to her friends and sister, who had her phone out again.

"Will you stop filming everything?" Dan cried.

"Sorry." Keri said quietly.

"Unbelievable!" Dan said, walking off further down the corridor.

Biting back a smile, Zoe and Aneisha followed after him. Keri looked after them for a moment, filmed the bodies of the long-dead missing M.I.9 team for a few moments and then followed after them.


	3. Chapter 3

Zoe touched the arm of the metal android, glancing at Dan over it. "What do you think it is?"

"Some kind of android." Dan replied, glancing up at her.

Zoe sighed, shaking her head, but she was smiling. "You don't say."

Dan grinned up at her, but they both turned to look at Aneisha, standing near a sign on the wall as she said, "How many divisions of KORPS are there? I've never even heard of SKOTOMA before. I wonder what they do."

"They kill people." Keri said, her fingers laced together in front of her. She looked upset and the instincts within Zoe that had driven her to want to help Kloe, maybe they were called maternal instinct, itched to hold her and comfort her.

"Lots of people." Keri continued as Zoe neared her and Dan stood. "We used to sneak up here sometimes. All they talked about was the invisible death."

Zoe and Dan exchanged a glance and somehow, Dan knew what Zoe was thinking – she wanted to comfort her sister, wanted to do _anything _that would make a difference, but she didn't know what.

"The lab's still five doors down, but there's a shortcut this way." Keri said. She walked to the door to her right and eased it open, leading the other three through. As they walked down the set of stairs they were greeted with, Tom said, "_You're approaching the Sternum lab. That's where Keri and Libi were held, so that'll be where their records are."_

"Let's get a move on." Dan said to Aneisha, who was walking beside him on the staircase. Zoe was walking beside Keri again. "We won't be the only ones looking for them."

As they walked into the lab, Tom said, "_Okay, if we're going to find the girl, we're going to need records from about fourteen years ago."_

"Forget it." Zoe said quietly into her pencil, her green eyes wide. "We've found her."

They could all see the auburn-haired girl standing by some of the equipment. She had the same slim build that Zoe and Keri had and then the girl turned to look at them and asked, "Do you have orders from the Scientist General?"

She glanced between them all, but when she saw Keri, her eyes widened. "Keri?"

"Libi?"

Libi run to Keri and hugged her tightly. Keri pressed her face into Libi's hair and Zoe looked away, remembering Kloe. Dan touched her wrist quickly and Zoe looked up at him. "If KORPS already have Libi, why do they want Keri? They can't put his head into two bodies."

"_They can._" Tom said, horrified. _"That's why they want them both, they want to make two Masterminds. Imagine two working on different parts of the planet, nothing could stop them._"

"And we brought Keri right to them." Aneisha said.

"We have to get out of here now." Dan said, his muscles tensing for a fight, his blue eyes darting around quickly, the way they did when he was expecting a fight.

"That's not going to be easy." Zoe said, watching longingly as Keri and Libi walked to the beds at the end of the room. Keri picked up an old, scruffy teddy bear and then sat down on the bed. "I shouldn't have come back."

"I'm please you did!" Libi said happily. "It'll be more fun now there's two of us again."

Zoe touched Dan's chest. "Let me try first. They are _my _sisters."

Dan nodded reluctantly and Zoe walked over to her sisters, kneeling down in front of them. Keri turned to Libi and introduced Zoe as their sister.

"Libi, you can't stay here. You need to come with us." Zoe said gently.

"I'm not allowed to leave. I'm never allowed to leave." Libi said.

"Please, Libi. I'm trying to save your life. I don't want to lose my sister." Zoe said.

Libi shook her head, looking afraid.

"Look, we really don't have time for this. We need to leave now." Dan said, walking towards the three auburn-haired girls.

"Dan!" Zoe protested as Libi got up, moving as far away from Dan as she could.

"Leave me alone. Please." Libi said, before slamming her palm onto the red button on the wall. Dan looked up as a beeping started and the lighting turned red. Zoe stood and grabbed Libi's arm and dragged her out of the room after Aneisha, while Dan ushered Keri out after them.

"Tom, what's happening?" Zoe asked into her pencil as Libi struggled against her and sobbed and shouted.

"_Security systems are lighting up all across The Mayze. Getting out is not going to be easy." _Tom replied. "_Uh oh. We've got company. Sensors show that they're a KORPS team _in _The Mayze. I think I can get you out without them seeing you, but you're going to have to do _exactly _what I tell you." _Tom said as they came out into the SKOTOMA level.

"Tom said there's a KORPS team in The Mayze." Zoe said as Dan shut the door, causing both Dan and Aneisha to groan. Libi flung herself at it, fingers scraping and clawing at the metal, trying to pry it open. Keri watched Libi sadly as Zoe tried to calm her down, to no avail.

"This is hopeless! We've got to calm her down or we'll never get out!" Aneisha cried, trying to pull Libi away from the door. Remembering the way Libi used to comfort her when they were younger, Keri walked towards Libi and said to Dan, "Let me try."

Then, gently, she put her hand on Libi's shoulder and pulled her away from the door. "It'll be alright." Then she hugged Libi, stroking her soft hair gently. The three agents left the two girls, walking a few metres away.

"What do you think the SKOTOMA people meant by 'The Invisible Death'?" Zoe asked, looking around.

Dan looked behind him. "The androids have gone."

He felt something hard slam into the side of his head and then into his stomach, knocking him over. Zoe tried to hit at whatever it was that had attacked him, but it just shoved her into the wall before it moved to Aneisha.

"Guys, what's going on."

"They're stealth androids." Zoe said, looking around quickly.

Dan nodded as Aneisha kicked out and managed to land a hit. "SKOTOMA means 'blind spot'."

Zoe looked around frantically as Aneisha said, "We can't win if we can't see them."

"Actually, we can." Zoe murmured, noticing a stool move as the android bumped into it. She shot forward and kicked the android, knocking it over and disabling the part of it circuitry that made it invisible to the naked human eye.

Dan grinned at Zoe. "There's still one left."

"Hang on. Wait a second." Zoe said, turning and walking to the table behind them, which had an assortment of tools and pieces of metal placed upon it – stuff that would make a lot of noise if you accidentally kicked it. Zoe started grabbing it all and throwing it onto the floor. Keri moved to her side to help and together, they threw all of it onto the stone floor.

"Watch the floor and if something moves, _that's _where the android is." Zoe said.

They all watched the floor, until a piece of metal seemingly scraped across the ground on its own and Aneisha shouted, "There!"

Before any of them could move, Keri barrelled forward and slammed her foot into the android's torso. As it crashed to the floor, Dan stared at Keri, astonished. "When'd you learn to do that?"

Keri turned around, her gaze shifting back and forth between Dan and her sister. "Just then. Watching you. Why, did I do it wrong?"

"No, that was right." Zoe replied, clearly as surprised as the boy standing beside her. Keri smiled at her before they heard a beeping and looked up, as the light above the door flashed. Dan, Zoe, Aneisha, Keri and Libi all scrambled behind some black boxes as a tall men with shoulder-length brown hair and dressed in a lab coat, flanked by two KORPS agents, walked in.

Zoe fought to keep her heavy breathing and quick heartbeat under control. It didn't come from the fact that if the guy turned around and saw them, they were done for. No, it came from the fact that Dan was only centimetres away from her. She could smell his aftershave – no, cologne, aftershave was stronger than what he was wearing – and she could feel his breath wafting across her face with each breath that he took.

When the man moved on, they crept out of their hiding spot and walked out the room as Tom started directing them through The Mayze, but they kept running into walls.

"What . . . what is going on?" Keri asked, after Tom directed them into a wall for the fifth time.

"The walls are moving." Zoe replied, looking around.

"There's no way out!" Aneisha cried.

"This way –" Dan started.

"Dan, wait." Zoe said. "The door to the outside would still be in the same place. They can't move what's outside."

Dan shrugged, not getting it. "So?"

"We just walk out the same way we walked in. If there's a wall in the way, we wait for it to move." Zoe said.

"But how do we remember the _exact _route we took?" Aneisha asked.

This time, it was Keri who spoke, holding up her phone. "I filmed it, remember?"

Keri at the front, they walked through The Mayze and then they found the door. Dan, Zoe, Aneisha and Keri moved forward, while Libi, whimpered, "I'm sorry. I'm not allowed outside," before doubling back.

"Libi!" Keri shouted, but Dan and Aneisha grabbed her arms while Zoe went in after Libi. Keri broke free of Aneisha's hold, but then Dan wrapped his arms around Keri's waist, spinning her around and blocking her way to Libi with his body.

Finally, Zoe emerged, dragging Libi by the arm, looking like she'd been in a fight.

"Are you okay?" Dan asked.

"I'm fine." Zoe replied. "Let's get out of here. This place gives me the creeps."


	4. Chapter 4

"Keri and Libi are both safely with their foster families. The only people who know who they really are are the girls themselves and the people in this room." Frank said.

"KORPS will never find them then." Tom said.

Dan sighed happily, leaning on the table. "Thank _God. _I have two words, three syllables, to describe Keri Summers. Li-a-bilty."

"I'm pretty sure that's four syllables, Dan." Aneisha said. Both girls erupted into laughter, while Dan just rolled his eyes and smiled, his eyes glinting with love and happiness.

"Well done, team." Frank said, walking out with Aneisha and Tom. Zoe started to follow, but Dan pulled her back as the door closed on the other three members of the team.

"Dan! What – " Zoe started, before Dan's mouth pressing against hers cut her off. There was a tiny voice in the back of Zoe's head that was screaming that she should pull away from him _right now, _that this was against regulations and they could get fired if Frank or Stella happened to walk in. But the rest of her couldn't stop revelling in the fact that this was Dan, she'd wanted this for so long, this was Dan, she was _kissing _Dan . . .

Some part of her shocked awake and Zoe stumbled away from him, glaring up at him. "You shouldn't have done that."

Dan just grinned at her.

"Dan, I'm serious! We could get _fired _for that!"

"If you think I regret that, I don't." Dan said. "I love you, Zoe. No protocol or rule or anything that KORPS can do to me will ever change that."

"Dan . . . you know the rules . . ." Zoe said quietly, barely able to comprehend the fact that he _loved _her.

"We could keep it a secret." Dan replied, his blue eyes hopeful.

"Dan, we can't . . ." Zoe said, looking away.

"We can't or _you _won't?" Dan asked.

Zoe looked back at him, her eyes blazing. "What the hell is _that _supposed to mean?"

"Maybe you're just afraid of what might happen." Dan said.

"Of course I am! If I lose my job, _Dan, _I'm out on the streets! I'll have nowhere to go."

"Take a chance." Dan said quietly, stepping towards her. "I won't ever let anything happen to you."

And just like always, she believed him. Before she could make herself stop, Zoe walked up to Dan and pushed up on her toes, pressing her mouth against his. She felt his surprise, but then his arms wrapped around her petite little waist as she launched herself up into the air, wrapping her legs around his waist.

Dan grunted, running his hands through Zoe's hair as he placed her on the table.

"I love you." Zoe gasped between kisses, making Dan kiss her harder.

* * *

"You know how hard this is going to be, don't you?" Zoe asked quietly, shifting in Dan's arms to look up at him. Dan brushed his hand over her hip and kissed her forehead. "I know. But you're worth it, Zo."

Zoe flushed and tucked her head under his chin. "I love you, Dan."

"I love you too. Always." Dan whispered into her hair.

They heard the sound of the lift descending and reluctantly but quickly, Zoe shoved Dan away from her and he stumbled across the room into a chair. Still sitting on the table, Zoe crossed her legs and leaned back on her hands as Frank walked in.

"Are you two still down here?" Frank asked.

"We were discussing her sisters." Dan said, the lie rolling easily off his tongue.

"Well, come on. All hell's breaking loose upstairs." Frank said.

"What's going on?" Dan asked.

"There's a new kid who's got Mr Flatley obsessed with saving power. He's trying to turn off all the power in the school, including the power down here. You two had better get upstairs, just in case he does manage to turn it off. The pair of you would be stuck down here."

_That wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing, _Dan thought as he followed Zoe and Frank into the lift.

* * *

Dan and Zoe found Tom and Aneisha over by the fuses, along with practically half the school, including Mr Flatley and a boy Zoe had never seen before. He had blue eyes hidden behind large glasses and his hair was a sandy mop of curls atop his head. He was holding a clipboard and he reminded her of Tom with the way he dressed. That was where the resemblance stopped.

Zoe could see Roly and Lady J in the crowd, arguing with Mr Flatley about the power. Frank sighed and shoved in between Lady J and Mr Flatley and started arguing with the head teacher _why _power was important.

"STOP!"

Immediately, all heads turned to the commanding voice, their eyes travelling from the woman's shoes, which were ugly brown things with a little heel and a leopard print pattern on them, then up to her blue dress and then to her face. She had light brown skin with brown lipstick on and the slightest bit of mascara on her lashes. Her hair was pulled back into a bun and everyone knew, immediately, that this was a woman who _expected _to have her orders obeyed.

Zoe couldn't help thinking that she'd probably make a good police officer, not a teacher.

"Mrs King!" Mr Flatley squeaker. "What are you doing here?"

The woman's face twisted into a look of surprise and distaste and Mr Flatley immediately corrected himself. Obviously, something about this woman intimated him. It wasn't hard to see why as he said nervously, "Uh, uh, I mean . . . What a lovely surprise. Everybody, Mrs King and I worked together at my last school. We're like Batman and . . . Toto."

Dan bit his lip to stop himself from laughing and although Zoe wasn't having much more luck containing her own giggles, she hit him in the stomach lightly. It wasn't hard to guess who was Batman and who was Toto.

"Don't speak to me, Mr Flatley." Mrs King said in distaste, causing Mr Flatley to look sheepish as she stepped forward, continuing, "I have spent today secretly observing this school and it's a disgrace. No heating, no electricity, students _completely _out of control. Well. I am the new deputy head and it stops _now."_

Mr Flatley looked scared, Tom was looking at his feet and Aneisha looked miserable. Zoe glanced at Aneisha and then up at Dan, who simply shrugged.

"But we were just trying to save the world." The new kid, who Tom identified as Preston, objected, who was quickly shot down by Mrs King yelling, "Go to class!"

"Man, he was told!" Lady J said as Preston hurried off.

"And you!" Mrs King shouted, turning on the fun-loving girl. Immediately, Lady J stopped smiling and took a step back. "Any more loud music and you'll be suspended."

Pressing her lips together, Lady J pushed past her and Aneisha tried to follow, but she was stopped but the new deputy head's, "Not so fast, young lady."

Zoe knew something big was coming, judging from Aneisha's fallen face. Aneisha _had _to know Mrs King from somewhere, to be reacting like this.

"Mr Flatley." Mrs King said with a smile. "Aneisha here is my niece."

Out of plain habit, Zoe looked up at Dan, who just looked at her in shock. Zoe would have predicted having eighty-six sisters over Aneisha being related to that woman.

"Now, according to the school records, Aneisha has missed _two _out of every _five days _with bogus excuses. Well," she said, turning to Aneisha, "that's it, young lady. From now on, I've got my eye on you."

Aneisha looked away, dejected. "My life is over."

Zoe gave her friend a sympathetic smile and Aneisha smiled gratefully back at her. Although the news that Aneisha was the niece of their seemingly horrid new deputy head teacher was quite a shock and the arrival of said horrid deputy head would certainly make their spy work a lot harder, Zoe couldn't find the energy to let it dampen her mood – not when all she could focus on was the way it had felt to kiss him, the way he had held her. And from the way Dan's fingers kept massaging the small of her back in such a subtle way that no-one else but her would notice, she knew that he was feeling the same.

This was going to be a lot harder than she thought.


	5. Chapter 5

As Zoe walked past a classroom, the door opened and a hand shot out, long, tanned fingers wrapping around her wrist and tugging her inside the classroom, closing the door firmly behind her. Zoe found herself in a room where the lights were dimmed, but there was just enough light for Zoe to see the light blue eyes hooded by blonde hair as she looked up.

"Dan." Zoe breathed, taking his face in her hands. "What –"

"Sorry. I just had to do this." Dan said quietly, pressing his mouth against hers and pushing her up against the door. Zoe gasped into his kiss, pushing herself up onto her toes so she could kiss him harder. Dan's arms wrapped around her slim waist, still hardly able, even after nearly a month of sneaking around Frank and the others, to believe that this was really happening, that it was Zoe he held in his arms, that it was her mouth against his. Although he wasn't free to do _whenever _he wanted, Dan had to admit that this was a whole lot better than keeping himself awake at night imagining what her kiss felt like, instead he kept himself awake imagining . . . other things about her.

When he released Zoe's mouth, he rested his forehead against her's, his blue eyes staring into hers. Zoe shoved his shoulder and he stumbled backwards, looking at her quizzically with the classic _What did I do? _expression.

Zoe crossed her arms over her chest and after a moment or two, a smile followed. "If you _ever _apologise for kissing me again, you're in big trouble, Morgan."

Dan grinned at her and kissed her again, his hand resting on her cheek. "Deal."

Zoe smiled up at him. "I love you."

And then she was gone, the door closing softly behind her.

"I love you too." Dan muttered after her, closing his eyes and counting to ten. When he was done, he re-opened the blinds that he'd closed just before he pulled Zoe in and then walked out to find Zoe walking down the corridor with Tom and Aneisha. She smiled at him and beckoned him over, as if she hadn't _just _been kissing him in a dark classroom. He hated to admit it, but she was a good actress – she would have done well on Broadway, with acting skills like that paired with that voice of hers.

He noticed that Aneisha looked upset. "What's with Neish?"

"My auntie." Aneisha grumbled. "Of all the people to get, why did it have to be _her?"_

Tom erupted into laughter and Aneisha glared at him. "It's not funny!"

Tom pulled out his phone and shoved it in front of her face as they walked. "I looked it up on the internet. It's the funniest thing _since time began!"_

Dan and Zoe shared a glance and smiled as the four came to where there was a cluster of people – Roly and Preston were putting up a big green poster that said 'Centenary Party' '100 years' and 'Fancy dress; horror' written on it, with the St Heart's logo with bat wings coming out the sides of it in the middle. Lady J was watching the two boys with barely contained boredom and Mrs King was directing Preston and Roly on putting up the poster.

Zoe regarded the poster with childlike interest and Dan watched her from the corner of his eyes, studying the way that emotion made her face light up as she said, "We're having a party! What are we celebrating, Mrs King?"

"Ah, Zoe." Mrs King said, turning and smiling at her. "Would you believe that _today _we are one hundred years old?"

Zoe looked at her friends in excitement as Roly said, "Really, Miss? You don't look a day over sixty-five."

Tom started laughing as Mrs King said, tight-lipped, "It's the school's centenary, thankyou Donaldson."

Frank, carrying a large plastic container, pushed past Mrs King and she said, "And _someone's _meant to be helping."

Frank turned to look at her. "Sorry, but Mr Flatley wants his Geography class out in the playground."

Immediately, the four spies exchanged glances and rushed out to the playground, all laughing as they stumbled outside to see Mr Flatley playing with a computer on it and in front of that, a large metal tower that slightly resembled a telephone tower, apart from the sphere on the table with several spikes jutting out of it.

"Sir?" Aneisha asked, a little uncertainly. "You're not trying to contact aliens again, are you?"

"Hmm? Oh, nnnnnononono." Mr Flatley said, turning around. He picked up a large picture frame so they could see it. "I found a project done by the very first pupils at St Heart's, where they tried to measure how much electricity there was in a lightning bolt. So, for the school's centenary, I thought we could recreate the same experiment one hundred years on."

"No way. A lightning conductor?" Tom said, looking impressed.

"Ah, yes, Tom." Mr Flatley said. "I haven't exactly told Mrs King yet – "

"Mr Flatley!" Mrs King cried, seemingly appearing out of nowhere. Mr Flatley gasped loudly and leaned away as she said, "What on Earth – ?"

"Ah. _Ah, _Mrs King, yes, um . . . It's simply part of our new . . . weather project."

"The weather where? On the moon?" Mrs King asked, looking unimpressed.

"Ah-um . . . yes. Well, come on everyone, let's go and put up some, um . . . wind gauges." Mr Flatley said. The class started to break up in groups of two and three – Dan went with Tom, while Zoe and Aneisha went together. The two girls were setting up a free-standing wind gauge when they heard the dull, metallic thump coming from the garden to their right, where Roly was setting up his wind gauge in the garden. Aneisha didn't pay much attention to it, but Zoe listened carefully as she helped Aneisha with the wind gauge while Roly brushed the soil of the garden away and red out the word written on the metal beneath.

"KOR . . . KORPS?"

Hearing that spurred Zoe into action. She slapped Aneisha's leg and the two of them moved over to Roly as he shouted, "What is this thing? It's massive."

"Roly, why don't you go help Preston?" Aneisha suggested.

"It could be like a buried treasure or something!" Roly protested.

"He's got donuts!" Zoe added enthusiastically, knowing that that would sell him, and it did. Shouting Preston's name, Roly ran across the courtyard as Zoe and Aneisha brushed the remaining dirt away, revealing that the metal appeared to be some kind of hatch. Zoe yanked on the handle as hard as she could, but it refused to give. Straightening up, she looked over at the boys, who were watching them cautiously, as if they'd found something dangerous, like an atomic bomb. Maybe they had.

Zoe quickly signed 'Get over here. Now' in sign language, knowing Dan at least would understand it. Dan quickly signed a response and Tom looked at him with wide eyes. "Since when do you know sign language?"

"Since Zoe taught me." Dan replied, getting up.

"So what'd you teach her in return? How to pick a lock?" Tom asked.

Dan shook his head as they walked over to the girls. "No, she already knows how to do that." Then he turned his attention to Zoe and Aneisha. "What'd you find?"

"It looks like some kind of hatch." Zoe replied. "It's got KORPS written on it and it looks like it's sealed."

"Here. Let me try." Dan said, grabbing on the handle and yanking on it. When it didn't budge, he looked up at his friends and stepped back. "Yeah. Definitely sealed."

"Told you." Zoe mumbled.

"This is not good." Tom said quietly, his brown eyes focused on the hatch. Even though no one said it aloud, the darker skinned girl, the blonde boy and his redheaded lover all agreed with him.


	6. Chapter 6

Dan went down to HQ and when he returned, he was carrying a large bag. Sighing, he dumped it on the ground and placed his hands on his lower back, stretching out the sore muscles.

"Are you getting a bit old there, Dan?" Zoe asked, grinning.

Dan cast her a mockingly cold look. "Keep talking and I'll throw you in the river."

"There is no river." Zoe replied, laughing. Dan rolled his eyes as Tom pulled laser cutters out of the bag and used them to open the hatch.

"Careful. It might still be hot." Tom said, pushing his welding mask off and placing it beside him. Aneisha, being careful with the hot metal like he'd told her, pulled the lid up and all three teens peered down into the darkness.

"Wow." Dan said, listening to his voice echo down as Aneisha switched on her flashlight, shining it down the chasm. "I can't see the bottom. Who's going in first?"

"Frank told us to wait." Dan said.

Zoe sighed and grabbed the torch from Aneisha's hands. "Fine. _I'll _go in then, shall I?"

Zoe climbed inside the hatch and started down the ladder, carefully placing her feet on the rungs. Finally, when she landed on solid ground, she shined the torch around her surroundings, trying to get a feel for where she was. Zoe felt fingers brush against her back and she stopped herself from screaming as she turned, barely making out the outline of Dan's face in the near darkness.

Then the lights were switched on and Dan stepped back to avoid arousing suspicions. Even so, Aneisha cast Dan a curious glance and Dan cursed under his breath.

"Is anyone else totally freaked out by this?" Aneisha asked, looking around.

"Not really." Zoe replied, shrugging. "It looks kind of like the SKUL base I was living in when I was five."

"That's fair." Dan told her from across the room. "How many SKUL bases were you at all up, by the way?"

"At least thirteen." Zoe replied easily. "Trust me, living in SKUL was worse than living in a military family."

"How do you know that?" Dan asked.

"Even if he was in the military, would you own father hit you when you misbehave?" Zoe asked. "But then again, I wouldn't turn around and shove my own father into a wall."

"That's m –" Dan started, before he cut himself off. Both he and Zoe both knew what he was about to say; _That's my girl, _but, as far as Tom and Aneisha knew, Zoe wasn't _his _girl.

"That's great, Zo." Dan corrected himself.

"Can you two focus please?" Tom asked. He walked over to the bench and picked up a piece of paper, his eyes widening as he read the date; "January the sixth, _1941!"_

Aneisha walked over to the desk in the corner, picking up a piece of paper sitting on a tape recorder. She took note of the logo at the top of the yellowing page – a red triangle with a fox head inside. Aneisha turned the page over and printed on the back in bold, black lettering, was 'STERNUM'.

"Look. STERNUM." Aneisha said, passing the paper to Zoe as she and the boys joined her.

"The same people who want to turn Keri and Libi and Zoe, once upon a time, into the Mastermind." Dan said quietly. A hand landed heavily on his shoulder and Dan whirled, forcing his heart to stop trying to jump out of his chest when he saw that it was only Frank.

"I told you to wait for me." Frank said.

"Sorry. Look what we found." Aneisha said quietly, passing him the paper.

"STERNUM." Frank said. He took his glasses off. "Look around. I'll call Stella. But don't touch anything – that hatch was sealed for a reason."

He walked off to call Stella and Zoe moved into the machine in the middle of the room, looking at the photos clipped onto it. "What's with all the photos?"

"I don't know. But it _is _very violent, isn't it?" Dan said, leaning against the side. It was very stuffy inside this lab. Groaning as his resolve slipped, Dan peeled his school jumper off and hung it on a lever on the side of the machine. He stepped inside the machine, leaning against the side of it, so he was facing Zoe's side. "I slipped up before."

"I know." Zoe said quietly.

"I'm sorry." Dan said. Zoe glanced over at him, a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. "You don't need . . . to be sorry, Dan. You slipped up. So? Everyone makes mistakes."

"But that mistake could mean us getting fired if it had been in front of Stella." Dan said in an urgent whisper.

"But it wasn't." Zoe said gently. "Dan, they're _Tom _and _Aneisha. _They're our friends. They won't sell us out."

"Yeah, but . . . I just . . . I don't want to let you down." Dan said softly. "I've wanted to be with you for so long and now . . . I'm so scared that I'm going to screw it up and I figure that if I am going to mess everything up, it may as well be something memorable, over something as small as a slip of the tongue." Dan said.

Zoe smiled up at him. "And what do you mean by 'memorable'?"

Dan shrugged. "Something like being caught naked in bed together."

Zoe rolled his eyes. "You can be really predictable sometimes, you know that?"

Dan cocked his head to the side. "You love me for it."

"And you're very lucky that I do."

"_Frank, if I knew anything about the lab, I would tell you." _

"But a KORPS lab under the school, I mean . . . it can't just be a coincidence."

"_Agreed. I'll find out what I can." _

"Oh, and Stella . . . I know now's hardly the time, but maybe we could talk sometime . . . about us?" Frank said hopefully.

"_You're right. Now's not the time." _Stella said harshly, hanging up. Frank sighed, pushing his phone into his pocket as he walked towards the centre of the room. Zoe was still studying the photos in the machine, while Dan was inspecting the tape recorder sitting in the opposite corner. "What is this thing?"

"No idea." Tom said, fiddling with the at least seventy-year-old controls. "It's World War II technology. Chances of syncing it with my spy pod are remote."

Dan picked up a piece of paper from underneath the table the tape recorder was sitting on. He opened it up and called Frank over. "Frank, come check this out. It's stuff about the cage."

"Frank, we have class to get to." Aneisha said.

"Alright. Well let's take this for now, we'll come back ASAP." Frank said.

Dan gathered up the tape recorder and diagram of the machine. "They were up to something in 1941." He said, glancing over his shoulder at Frank before following Zoe out. "The question is what."

Frank looked back to see if they'd left anything, noticing Dan's jumper hanging on the side of the machine. Sighing at the blonde's uncharacteristic forgetfulness, he walked over and yanked it off, ignoring the loud _click! _that followed. As Frank walked through the machine to the door, the lights changed to a red colour and Frank's body started twitching uncontrollably, as if he were suffering from a seizure, as what felt like a thousand volts of electricity was shot into his body.


	7. Chapter 7

Zoe heard a loud _click! _and stopped walking, listening more closely. She could hear a faint buzzing.

"Zo?" Dan asked, turning around. "What is it?"

"Do you hear that?" Zoe asked.

Dan, Aneisha and Tom all stopped, listening for whatever it was that Zoe was hearing. Then they heard it – the faint buzzing that seemed to resemble a swarm of bees.

"Yeah, I can hear it. Kind of like heaps of bees." Aneisha said.

"Where's Frank?" Dan asked.

Zoe started to answer, but she broke off as the buzzing stopped and she heard the unmistakable _thump! _of a body falling to the floor.

"Frank!" Zoe screamed, flying back into the room, the others hot on her tail. She skidded across the floor to sit at Frank's side, who was lying on the floor, his back facing the ceiling. Frank shook his head and slowly got up, a dark blue jumper clutched in one hand as Aneisha asked, "Frank, are you alright? What happened?"

"I'm not sure. I came back in for this," Frank said, brushing himself off as Zoe helped him to his feet and passing Dan back his jumper. "and I must have . . . tripped over. You know . . . how clumsy I am." He rubbed at his head. "Okay. Let's go."

* * *

After their classes were done for the day, Zoe, Aneisha and Tom went to go find Frank while Dan tried to get the tape recorder working. They found him out in the playground, watching Preston, Mr Flatley and Roly with a dazed expression. Roly was talking about it always rained when he didn't have his coat on as Aneisha said eagerly, "Frank, we're done for the day, we can go back down the hatch!"

"You know, biggie laboratory under-the-school thing?" Tom asked, waving his hand in front of Frank's face.

"Frank?" Zoe asked gently. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Zoe." Frank said gently, as if he were about to pass out. Suddenly Zoe was at his side, looking at him worriedly, like a little girl worried about her father. "Are you sure, you look kind of pal –"

"I SAID I'M FINE!" Frank snapped, walking inside just as Dan walked out, looking confused. He took one look at Zoe's upset expression and he felt the tug in his chest to comfort her and it killed him to turn away, but he knew she'd be more upset with him if he comforted her and the others worked out what they were doing.

"What's up with Frank?" Dan asked.

"I don't know." Aneisha replied. "Stella's been avoiding him lately – maybe he's more upset than we thought."

"Yeah, well, you need to hear this." Dan said, half-pulling the old piece of tech out of his bag. "I got the tape recorder working. It's well freaky. C'mon."

He led them back inside, holding the door open. Zoe came in last and he grabbed her arm, his blue eyes boring into her's. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Zoe told him, shrugging his hand off. She walked off, following Tom and Aneisha into the nearest classroom. Dan sighed and trailed after her, closing the door behind them as they all gathered around a table Dan placed the tape recorder on, switching it on. Tom sat on a table, Dan pulled up a chair and straddled it, Aneisha pulled up a chair beside Tom and Zoe pulled up a chair next Dan, sitting so close to him that her knee brushed against his every time either of them moved. This wasn't out of the ordinary – when they'd started sneaking around, they'd both agreed that if they tried to hide the fact that they loved each other from their friends, they'd pick up almost immediately on what was going on.

"_It is January the 6th, 1941 and I am about to test the machine_." A male voice said out of the tape recorder.

"Who is that?" Aneisha asked.

"I don't know. STERNUM agent, I guess." Dan said.

"_Agent Walker, are you still willing_?" The voice asked.

"_Honoured to serve KORPS when ready, sir_." A new voice said – this one was younger and female.

The man chuckled. "_Good. Then we shall begin_."

The recording stopped as the tape recorder started playing up. Dan sat up. "Recorder must be damaged. Wait a sec."

He played with the recorder for a little bit, fast-forwarding it before pressing play again.

"_It is now two hours since activation and something, I don't know, something has gone horribly, horribly wrong_." The man's voice said. Aneisha and Tom shared a glance while Zoe stared at the tape recorder, looking to be on the verge of tears as the man in the recording shouted, "_Agent Walker, no! Agent Walker_!"

As the recording ended with crashes, Zoe rocketed out of her seat, so she was standing at the front of the classroom, her arms stiff by her sides as she stared blankly.

"Zoe?" Dan asked gently, standing up and turning to face her.

Zoe's eyes focused on him, her green eyes filled with so many unshed tears that it broke his resolve. Not even caring that he wasn't supposed to be like this with her, that she was only meant to be his best friend, he walked up to her and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, resting his head against hers.

"It's okay." Dan whispered. "That all happened a long time ago. It's over."

"We should tell Frank." Tom said as Zoe nodded and stepped back from Dan, wiping her tears away with the back of her hand. "Wherever he is."

The door opened and Tom grabbed his bag, dumping it down on top of the tape recorder as Mrs King walked in. "Ah. I thought I could hear voices. Now, the party is starting soon and I expect _everyone _to be there."

Smiling, she walked out and Zoe slumped back in her chair as Dan picked up his bag, shoving the tape recorder into it.

"Whatever they did to Agent Walker, I'm glad they didn't do it to us." Aneisha said quietly. The recording had left them all subdued and even though no one said it, they all agreed with her.


	8. Chapter 8

**Before I allow you guys to read this, I just want to make something known. 'Forbidden' is a re-write of series 7 with Zoe instead of Keri, but it is also a more mature version of it. Although at the moment it is sitting at a T rating, this story's borderline M in some parts. Try to bear that in mind as you're reading this and if I do get any complaints about the rating, I will change it to an M. Okay? Okay.**

* * *

Dan had to hide his grin as he regarded Zoe's outfit – she was dressed up a some dark, evil fairy, but it _was _a sexy fairy, none the less. He was seeing so much of her skin that he felt like an old man in his brown coat and hat, which was _supposed _to make him look like Sherlock, standing next to her. He found that his eyes kept finding their way back to her, grazing over her body. She was wearing a tight black dress that stopped a little more than halfway up her thighs and it was cut a lot lower than he was used to, showing off just how much her body had matured in the time he'd known her. She was wearing black heels and fishnet stockings, with a pair of black fairy wings fastened to the back of her dress. Her jewellery was kept simple – it was just a black stone on a cord around her neck, whereas her makeup was quite extravagant. Her eyes were heavily lined and her eyelashes were longer and darker than usual, framing big, green eyes. Her lips looked plumper and redder than usual and her hair was worn down. Somehow, he knew that she knew the effect she had on him. He could imagine what he'd do if they were alone; he'd kiss her until their lips were swollen and then his shirt would come off, then that damned dress –

_No, Morgan, _Dan told himself, digging his nails into his wrist, sobering him up a bit. _We are not going there _now.

"Some fairy you turned out to be." Dan said in her ear while they were supposed to be listening to Mr Flatley. Zoe noticed that his voice sounded deeper and huskier than usual and she bit back a smile. The dress was having the desired effect then. "No fairy would ever wear _that."_

Zoe turned her head slightly so she could see him; so she could see his blue eyes that were a slightly darker colour than usual. "Maybe I'm a special kind of fairy."

The look appreciative look Dan gave her sent shocks of excitement up Zoe's spine – no guy had ever looked at her like that before – as Mr Flatley handed over to Lady J and music started playing. At first, the music was strange – it was just an organ, the kind of thing that would be played in a funeral service, but then it changed to dubstep and everyone started dancing. Well, except for Tom, Zoe, Dan and Aneisha.

Chuckling, Tom hid Dan and Zoe behind his vampire cape so they could look at the diagram of the cage as he said in Transylvanian accent, "Gather 'round, my children." Then, his voice back to normal, he said, "Oh, I am so getting a cape. Anyway, from what I can tell, the machine effects certain neurons in the brain."

"Yeah. We _did _hear that guy on the tape. We were there, remember?" Zoe asked, raising an eyebrow.

"That was Stella." Aneisha said, walking up with her pencil in hand. "She wants us to meet her down in the hatch in five."

"Is there still no sign of Frank?" Dan asked.

"I'm more worried about KORPS." Tom said. "If they figure out we've discovered the lab . . ."

"Come on. We'll have to sneak out." Aneisha said, pushing them towards the door.

* * *

Stella looked disturbed as Dan switched the tape recorder off and when she spoke, she spoke slowly and carefully.

"It was rumoured that in World War II, KORPS were trying to develop some kind of . . . super soldier."

"Super soldiers?" Aneisha and Zoe both echoed, exchanging a glance.

"Like a zombie. They stop at nothing until they've completely destroyed the enemy, but . . . surely it was just a rumour."

Tom put the diagram of the cage down on top of the tape recorder. "All we know is that the cage uses electricity to stimulate parts of the brain."

"Those that deal with emotions?" Aneisha asked as Zoe walked over, into the cage. Dan wanted to tell her to get out of there, but he held his tongue. He knew that Zoe could look after herself.

Zoe stared at the photos – of atomic bombs, of war, of death, of destruction; of all the worst things that mankind had ever produced. "That must be what all these photos are for. When you get zapped, your head gets filled with all these images of war and destruction."

"Great." Stella huffed. "All this is going on and Frank decides to pull a sickie."

"Uh, Stella?" Dan said, looking over the controls. "Look."

"Those scorch marks weren't there before." Tom said.

"It smells like burning." Aneisha said.

"We never touched it." Tom said.

Zoe's mind was racing. "Dan, when you left your jumper on the machine, where did you put it?"

Dan thought quickly, horror rising in his chest. Swallowing it down, he pointed to a lever on the outside of the machine. "On that lever. Why?"

Zoe walked over to where Dan pointed and felt like banging her head against the machine a few times, just to make sure that this wasn't just some horrible nightmare. "No, no, no."

"Zoe?" Aneisha asked.

"What if . . . What if Frank didn't trip?" Zoe asked. "What if he actually activated the machine?"

"What if Frank's turned into a super soldier?" Tom asked.

The question hung in the air, dangling precariously over them like a death sentence, except it wasn't their deaths. It was the death of Frank's humanity.

And Dan?

Dan felt the weight of it more than any of them did.


	9. Chapter 9

"We still don't know for a sure that Frank's a . . ." Zoe trailed off, unsure of how to finish her sentence as she moved out of the machine to stand next to Aneisha.

Dan, the guilt weighing on his chest like dumbbell, looked up. "A what? A _raving _killing machine?"

Zoe felt sick. Dan was right. The man she thought of as a father was now capable of anything and the boy she loved looked so guilty that it physically pained her, but she wasn't actually supposed to be in love with him, or dating him for that matter, so she couldn't go and comfort him. IT was by far one of the worst situations she had ever been in.

"Here," Tom said, closing a filing cabinet and placing a piece of paper down, "About the super soldiers."

They all gathered around as Tom started reading, "A super soldier will attack anything or anyone until given orders."

"Fantastic." Stella said sarcastically. "And there's Frank on the loose in a school."

"Alright. I'm going back for him." Dan said, moving towards the door.

"I'm coming." Zoe said, following him.

"You two stay with me." Stella said to Tom and Aneisha as Dan and Zoe walked out. "We need to be ready if Frank or KORPS come back."

* * *

Dan and Zoe scoured the school frantically in search of Frank – Dan searched the party while Zoe looked through the classrooms. Both came up with nothing.

They met at the junction of two corridors, literally almost crashing into each other. Dan had to wrap his arms around Zoe to stop her from falling over.

"Did you find him?" Dan asked as Zoe pulled her dress down and stepped back, her green eyes worried as she shook her head.

Dan took his hat off and raked a hand through his hair before placing the hat back over his golden mop of hair. Zoe noticed that his blue eyes looked more worried than she had ever seen him. "He's not a the party. What if he's left the school?"

Zoe's gaze travelled over to the broom cupboard, where a bin had been tipped over, spilling its contents all over the floor. "I'm guessing he's gone downstairs."

* * *

Dan and Zoe walked out of the lift, both watching in horror as they took in the lights hanging lopsided from the ceiling, the fire extinguisher sticking crookedly out of the top of the table, computer parts and paper strewn all over the room and Frank abusing a computer.

Zoe held her communicator to her ear, her green eyes wide with horror. "Tom? We've found Frank. I think."

"Frank?" Dan asked, guilt weighing more heavily on his chest now that he'd seen for himself what the reaction to his action was making Frank do. "Frank, it's me, Dan."

Frank made a horrible growling sound as he threw a stack of papers across the room and hissed, "Destroy MI9."

"Frank, you've got to stop. That's an order!" Dan yelled, to no avail. Frank kicked a computer.

"He's not listening." Zoe told Dan, her eyes flickering worriedly between Dan and the shell of the man who used to be Frank. She could barely believe it as she said, "Just like that woman on the recording."

Frank picked up the computer and threw it across the room.

"Frank! FRANK!" Dan bellowed, his voice echoing off the walls. Frank looked up and started to hobble towards them. Dan grabbed Zoe's arm, pulling her back into the lift. "Let's get out of here."

The lift doors closed just as Frank reached it, locking him safely on one side of them and Dan and Zoe on the other, Frank's fingers clawing at the metal.

* * *

Dan and Zoe rushed out of the broom cupboard, Dan yanking the door closed loudly. Dan and Zoe leaned against the door as they held their communicators to their ears as Stella's voice carried through them, "_Dan, Zoe. The SWAT team are on their way. You need to keep Frank in HQ. Do you hear me?"_

There was the familiar _ding! _of the lift ascending and Dan felt fear rise as he said, "But he's already on his way up." He and Zoe exchanged a glance filled with fear and Zoe reached out, intertwining her fingers with his as, down in the underground lab, Aneisha argued, "We can't just wait for the SWAT team!"

"We have to neutralise the threat." Stella reasoned.

"This is _Frank _we're talking about!" Aneisha protested.

"Okay, maybe we can get him back here, figure out how to reverse the process somehow." Tom said desperately.

"How?" Stella asked.

"_I don't _. . . know, but while we stand here talking Frank is capable of anything." Tom said.

Stella sighed and brought her communicator back up to her ear. "Okay. New plan. We need Frank back at the lab. I don't care how you do it, but you have to get him back here."

Back at the broom cupboard, Dan and Zoe shoved their pencils into their pockets as Zoe asked, "What's she going to do? Talk him down over tea and cake?"

Before Dan could answer, a fist punched through the door and Dan and Zoe rocketed over to the other side of the corridor as Frank's face like a rabid dog's appeared in the hole in the door and then he banged against it. The door with its old, rusting hinges, fell forward, revealing Frank, his suit torn in places from the amount of muscle the machine had given him.

"Well it'd better be a big cake." Dan muttered.

"Destroy MI9." Frank said.

"We're MI9. What are you gonna do about it?" Dan asked, his blue eyes sparkling with determination.

Frank started towards them and Dan pulled Zoe with him as he took off running. Zoe stumbled a little in her heels, but then she regained her footing and easily kept up with him as they started sprinting down the corridors. Both were wondering how the others planned on getting _their _Frank back, but neither of them paid much attention to it. They needed to focus on 1) getting Frank back down the hatch and 2) keeping themselves alive.


	10. Chapter 10

"_Dan?" _

Dan and Zoe skidded to a stop and pulled out their communicators so they could hear Tom as he said, _"The power unit's blown. I need . . . half a million bolts to power this thing."_

Dan and Zoe both looked up as they heard thunder rumble outside, the lighting sending strange shadows across their faces, making their skin appear white.

"It's the thunderstorm." Dan said, looking out the window as the cogs turned his head.

"Nice job, Sherlock." Zoe muttered. Dan turned to look at her and then noticed the frame hanging on the wall behind her – the science project the first students at St Heart's had done. The one where they studied how much electricity was in a lightning bolt.

"I've got an idea." Dan said, glancing behind him as Frank yelled out, again reminding the blonde of a rabid dog. Dan dragged Zoe into a corner, pushing her into the wall and shielding her with his body. Zoe's eyes flickered up to meet Dan's before he moved back to see where Frank was – not too far out that Frank could see him, but far enough that he could see Frank. Frank, making noises that human vocal chords weren't designed to make, ripped the poster advertising the party going on, off the wall.

Dan turned back to Zoe, staring into her eyes as he said quietly, "But this idea would mean you getting Frank back to the hatch on your own."

Dan turned back to see what Frank was doing and saw him turn a bin over, scattering rubbish everywhere. Then Dan turned back to Zoe, leaning against the wall. "What am I thinking? Forget it."

Zoe grabbed his wrist and pulled him to face her. "Dan, we've got no better ideas. I'll do it. Do what you have to."

Dan stared down at her. "I can't lose you, Zo."

Zoe gave him a small smile. "You won't. I'll be fine."

Dan nodded and brushed her hair back from her face, letting his hand linger on her cheek. "I know you will."

Zoe noticed the regret in his eyes and took his face in her hands. "This isn't your fault, Dan. You couldn't have known – "

"This is _entirely _my fault." Dan said. "If Frank kills someone, if he kills _you_ . . . the responsibility will be completely mine. As it should be."

Zoe pressed her mouth against his quickly before she drew away. "We don't have the time to talk about this now. None of this is your fault, okay? I love you."

"I love you." Dan murmured as Zoe tugged her dress down and muttered, "This is the last time I wear a short dress to impress you."

"This is the _only _time you've worn a short dress to impress me." Dan said, his gaze raking over her body. "You should do it more often though."

"Don't count on it." Zoe replied, brushing past him to stand in the middle of the corridor. She crossed her arms over chest as she waited for Frank to notice that she was there and when he didn't, she stamped one heeled foot against the hard floor and yelled, "Hey!"

Frank looked up, muttering incoherently as Zoe said, "You with the attitude problem."

"Destroy." Frank said and started after Zoe. As Zoe turned and stumbled through the doors, she had a flashback of something that had happened only a year ago in this very corridor.

* * *

_Zoe, her face hidden behind a green silicon mask that stank like plastic, crept up behind the big man in black as Aneisha edged towards him, the big brown bag in her hands. As Aneisha passed the man the bag, he pushed someone forward and a tall boy with a mop of blonde hair grunted, stumbling away from him as he tended to his sore arm._

"_I would love to stay and chat." The man said, adjusting the straps on the bag. "But I really must get this valuable box back to my bosses."_

_Then he turned, coming face-to-face with Zoe as she raised her hand, holding a device that glowed blue as she pointed it at him. The man reached out for her with one hand, but then he froze as a blue pulsing aura seemed to surround him. When both he and the device stopped glowing, he fell to the floor, snoring softly. _

_Zoe pulled her mask off as she walked over to Dan and Aneisha, who were both watching the man who had spent the past few days pretending to be somebody he wasn't as he slept._

_Aneisha knelt down beside the sleeping man as Dan and Zoe stood side by side behind his head. _

"_Nimbic stimulator. I've got your back too." Zoe said to Dan, holding a hand up. "High six?"_

"_Five." Dan told her, high fiving her._

* * *

Zoe smiled at the memory, her pace slowing slightly, but hearing Frank muttering behind her, she took off again. Dan watched her go before he took off the other way, his coat flying out behind him. He found Mr Flatley, Preston and Roly as they stumbled outside after he'd found two big, heavy cables. He could hear Mr Flatley laughing and then he heard him exclaim, "The chance to study an actual lightning bolt! Preston! Roland! Prepare the machines!"

Both boys did as they were told and Dan looked up at the tower before he ran towards it, clipping one of the cables onto it before he ran off with it, the other one coiled around his shoulder. When it pulled taut, yanking his whole body back a few steps, Dan dropped the cable and sprinted over to the hatch with the remaining cable.

"Tom!" Dan shouted down his communicator once he was standing in front of the hatch. "I'm sending down the cable!"

Then he threw it down, listening to it banging against the walls as gravity pulled it down.

"_Got it. Hooking it up to the cage." _Tom said. Dan looked up as he heard the unmistakable sound of Zoe's heels clicking against the pavement as she ran towards him and he hid behind a nearby garden.


	11. Chapter 11

**Hey guys! I'm not sure how many of you are actually still reading this, because I don't seem to getting any reviews as of late, but I take that as a sign that my last update wasn't very good. This will get better, I promise! You'll just have to bear with me while I get 'Frankenstein' and 'The Man Who Drew Tomorrow' out of the way. I promise, after that, that's when it starts to get good, guys! :)**

* * *

"Incoming!" Zoe shouted, throwing her shoes down the hatch before she climbed in herself and began the slow descent down, hoping that Frank was still following her. Sure enough, when she reached the bottom and looked up, she could see Frank's face and shoulders as he peered over the side.

"Zoe, are you alright?" Aneisha asked, walking up to Zoe, her shoes in hand.

"I'm fine, but Frank's coming." Zoe said, taking her shoes from Aneisha and kicking them into the corner.

"The machine's ready." Tom said.

"Everybody hide." Stella ordered.

Tom, Aneisha and Stella crouched behind a desk as there was a thump from the side of the room, from the ladder. Zoe, however, hung back, indecision lacing her features.

"Zo? Zoe, quick." Aneisha said.

Zoe shook her head. "Someone needs to lead Frank into the machine."

Then, leaving no room for discussion, she turned fearlessly to face Frank as he lumbered towards her, his face once again reminding her of a rabid animal.

* * *

Once Zoe and Frank were gone, Dan jumped up from his hiding spot and grabbed the piece of cable dangling over the side of the hatch, running with it to where he'd dropped the other end of the other cable.

He grinned triumphantly as he picked it up – this was really happening. Frank was going to be okay. If Tom's plan worked.

Dan tried to bring the two separate cables together, but they pulled taut and refused to get any closer when they were about thirty centimetres apart. Frustrated, Dan tried to pull them closer, but the same thing happened.

Dan, growing more frustrated and edgy by every passing second, looking around frantically. Why weren't they connecting?

Then he noticed it – noticed that the cable connected to the tower was twisted around a bench. Dan groaned, but the sound was lost in the loud wind and thunder rumbling in the background. The universe really did hate him today.

* * *

Frank screamed and launched himself at the side of the cage. On the other side of it, Zoe watched him warily, moving to the side, her fake black wings bobbing up and down as she moved. Frank continued to growl and hiss at her as they circled each other around the cage when suddenly Frank stumbled forward, taking a swipe at Zoe. Zoe barely managed to dodge him, scrambling around and then in the cage. Frank crouched just outside it, his now orange-coloured eyes watching her as she trembled slightly in her place just inside the opening on the other side of the cage.

"Maybe KORPS were right about me." Zoe said. "Maybe I'm not supposed to be a spy. But I'm not going to let you hurt my friends. I know you're in there somewhere, Frank. But if you want to destroy MI9, you'll have to come and get me." She declared, holding up her MI9 security pass.

* * *

Dan continued to struggle with the cables – he didn't have the time to go and untangle it from the bench. As he tugged at it, he threw a desperate glance in the general direction of the hatch. How was everything going? Was Frank in the hatch yet? Was Zoe okay?

All his questions continued to go unanswered as Dan fought with the cables. Finally, he managed to pull the cable free – just as a lightning bolt struck the mast. As the electricity destroyed the poorly constructed station that Mr Flatley, Roly and Preston had set up, it travelled down the cable just as Dan connected the two, volts of electricity travelling up his arms and into his body. The force of it threw his body backwards and knocked him unconscious as the electricity continued down the cable.

Metres below Dan, Zoe stumbled out of the cage just as Frank stumbled in. Zoe heard the controls for the machine begin to hum with the potential energy it now held and she didn't even need Tom to tell her – she just reached out and yanked the lever down. Immediately, the machine started to glow red and Zoe stepped back, almost falling into a desk as she watched Frank writhing under some invisible force.

When the lights returned to their normal colour, Frank fell onto his back and immediately, Stella and the three teenage spies rushed to his side.

"Frank." Stella said gently. "Frank. Frank!"

"Frank, please." Zoe said, her voice small and tiny, like a child's. "Please wake up, Frank."

Frank remained unresponsive.

"It's his brain." Tom said quietly. "It was . . . it was too far gone."

Aneisha, Tom and Stella all bowed their heads but Zoe got up, walking into the cage as tears stung her eyes. She noticed the photos pinned to the side of it were different now – there was a photo of Flopsy, a copy of the St Heart's logo, the picture they'd seen blue-tacked to the computer on Frank's desk in the Bunker a year ago and Tom, Aneisha and Stella's security passes.

"Someone should tell Dan." Zoe said.

"I'll call him – " Tom started.

Zoe shook her head. "No, I'll go. I . . . " She cast a distraught look around her. "I need to get out of here anyway."

Then she was gone, climbing up the ladder to give the love of her life the worst news he was ever going to hear – that he'd killed the man she thought of as a father.


	12. Chapter 12

Zoe, tears streaming down her face, stumbled out of the hatch and looked around as the wind whipped at her hair, pulling it in all different directions and making it appear to have not been brushed for weeks.

Then she noticed the brown heap lying next to the cables and she let out a cry and she sprinted towards it. No. Not Dan. She'd just lost Frank, she couldn't lose Dan too.

"Dan!" Zoe cried, collapsing next to him. "Dan, wake up! Dan, please –"

She broke off as Dan's blue eyes opened, staring into her own as he sat up. "Zoe? What's happening? Where is everybody? Is Frank okay?"

He broke off when he noticed Zoe's tears, dread making his chest feel cold as ice. "No. No, no. He can't be."

"He's gone, Dan." Zoe managed before she broke down completely. Dan pulled her to him, his arms wrapping around her. After a while, Dan noticed that Zoe wasn't just shaking with her sobs, but with the cold. Dan shrugged off his jacket and placed it around her shoulders, knowing that the heavy material would go far to keep her warm.

"_Zoe?"_

Brushing tears out of her eyes, Zoe held her communicator to her ear so she could hear Tom's voice.

"_Frank's just woken up. He's thinking about Flopsy, but he's alive. He's okay, Zoe!"_

Zoe put her communicator back in her back and glanced at Dan as a smile found its way to her mouth.

"Zoe?" Dan asked. "Zo, what's going on?"

"He's awake." Zoe said, dazed. Then she laughed. "Dan, he's awake, he's okay!"

Both the blonde and the auburn-haired girl embraced each other, unable to think of another way to express their feelings of relief.

"Look." Zoe said, pulling away from Dan and pointing at Mr Flatley as he grabbed Mrs King's arm and kissed her square on the mouth before he began dancing with Roly and Preston. Zoe and Dan exchanged a glance as they started laughing at Mrs King's reaction, which included wiping her mouth and looking like she was about to walk inside and sanitise her own mouth. Or cut it off.

* * *

"Well, this is embarrassing." Frank said, pushing a dangling light out of the way as he ventured inside HQ. He noticed Flopsy sitting inside a lone drawer on the floor and he bent down, picking up the rabbit and surveying him for any injuries before passing him over to Zoe. "Well, thank God I didn't hurt Flopsy."

Dan looked guilty and refused to make eye contact with anyone, even Zoe.

"It's not your fault." Zoe murmured.

"Zoe's right, Dan." Frank said, turning to look at him. "No one got hurt, so everything turned out fine anyway."

Dan nodded, looking relieved. He looked at Zoe who smiled up at him with a _I told you so_ look in her eyes. Dan smiled fondly at her and rolled his eyes, scratching behind Flopsy's ears.

"The question remains, though," Frank said, bringing their attention back to where it was needed, "what was an old STERNUM base doing under St Heart's?"

"I found_ this_ at MI9." Stella said, bringing up something onto the screen – it was a photo of the hatch with the words 'CLASSIFIED FILE' written underneath. "It's a file about the hatch."

"And . . . what does it say?" Tom asked.

Stella sighed. "It's classified. I don't have the clearance to open it."

"So MI9 _did _know about it." Aneisha said.

"I'll keep looking into it. In the meantime the hatch will be sealed and you're to stay away from that lab." Stella said, walking into the lift.

"Oh. And that's an order." Stella added before the lift doors closed on her.

"Aren't we missing something?" Aneisha asked.

"No, what?" Tom asked, sharing a glance with Dan, who looked equally as confused as the two girls grinned at each other.

"Hello. There's a party going on upstairs and we're missing it." Aneisha said.

"_Oh." _Dan and Tom said together.

"Come on!" Aneisha cried, grabbing Tom's arm and dragging him out. Zoe placed Flopsy on the table as Dan offered her his arm, smiling at her. Zoe happily linked her arm through his and allowed him to lead her into the lift.

* * *

When the lift stopped and they both found themselves in the broom cupboard, Zoe moved towards the door but Dan pulled her back, pressing his mouth against hers. Zoe wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer, kissing him as hard as she dared.

When they finally came up for air, Zoe looked up at him. "We should get going. The others are going to start wondering where we are."

Dan nodded and pressed a kiss to her forehead. Then he stepped back, his eyes grazing over her body before he had to return to playing the role of her best friend again. They'd retrieved her heels from the lab and she had them on once again so she now stood as tall as he did. Zoe had never been as thankful for whatever magic the lift wielded – her makeup was just as she'd done before she'd left home, dark and gothic-looking again and her hair was perfectly straight again, free of all the tangles that wind had given it.

Dan pushed the door open and held it open for Zoe, standing aside so she could squeeze past him. They walked side by side as they walked through the corridors and every few steps, Zoe's fingers would brush against his and she'd have to fight the burning urge to intertwine her fingers with his.

The urge lessened, however, when they found their way back to the party and she pulled him out onto the dance floor – one of her hands gripping his while her other arm was draped loosely across his shoulders. Dan's hand, that was on the small of her back, seemed to burn through the thin material of her dress, as if he were touching her bare skin.

"Damn . . ." Dan muttered, his voice so low that only Zoe could hear him over the pounding bass line of the music that seemed to bounce off the walls.

"What?" Zoe murmured.

"You and that dress." Dan breathed. "Are going to be the death of me, I swear."

Zoe flushed as he whispered, "You look beautiful tonight, Zo."

Zoe sighed, ducking her head. "You have no idea how much I want to kiss you right now."

She imagined Dan's smile, but she didn't look up because she knew that if did, she'd crack. Even as it was, she had a hard time controlling herself as he said softly, "I do, Zo." Then his voice so low she barely heard him, he said, "Keep your window open tonight."

Zoe raised her head to look him into the eye and the look the passed between them spoke a thousand words – and also crackled with so much electricity that they shouldn't have needed to use a lightning bolt to power the cage.


	13. Chapter 13

Zoe was almost asleep when she felt the bed dip beneath her and someone say her name. Sighing in annoyance, she rolled over and swung her arm out, wondering who the hell would want to come and wake her up at half past one _in the morning_, for Christ's sake, and found herself looking into the face of a boy not much older than she was with the high cheekbones of a model, blue eyes that sparkled like the ocean blue and a smile that had the power to turn her knees to jelly and make her resolve disintegrate.

"Dan." Zoe breathed, reaching out and wrapping her arms around his neck. Dan buried his face in her neck, breathing her in. He could smell her strawberry-scented shampoo and the smell of the perfume she'd put on earlier than night. He pulled back and Zoe saw a small smile tugging at his mouth as he crawled onto the bed beside her. Zoe rolled over so he'd have more room, but as soon as he was resting against the pillows, he wrapped his arms around Zoe's waist and pulled her towards him so she was sitting in his lap. Zoe had to sink her teeth into her bottom lip to stop herself from squealing – her _MI9 _foster mum wouldn't be impressed if she woke up to Zoe squealing and found Dan in her bed. Yeah, _that _would go down well.

Zoe bit back a smile as Dan rested his head on her shoulder, looking up at her face. "What's so funny?"

"Just imagining what would happen if Janine came up here right now." Zoe replied. Dan chuckled and pressed a kiss to Zoe's shoulder.

Zoe sighed and dipped her head back, closing her eyes as the back of her head made gentle contact with Dan's shoulder. Dan's arms tightened around her waist as he pressed a kiss to her neck gently. "You okay?"

Zoe rolled off him so they were sitting side-by-side, except Zoe's leg was tangled with his. She sighed again, ducking her head so that her forehead was resting against Dan's.

"Zo." Dan whispered, brushing auburn hair out of her face. "What's wrong?"

"It's just . . . I _hate _this." Zoe said. "I hate that I can only be with you like this for only a few stolen moments. You have no idea how much I hate it, Dan."

Dan sighed, his blue eyes flickering up to meet hers as he smiled ruefully. "You forget that there's two people in this relationship, Zo. I do know how you feel."

Zoe gripped his hands tightly. "I hate it so much, Dan. I feel like I have a choice to make . . . like I have to choose between you and MI9. And I can't bear to lose either of you. Not yet."

"We'll figure it out. We'll scam Stella into changing the protocol or something."

"Yeah, and then we'll get fired because she'll have figured out about us. She's not stupid, Dan."

"Yeah, but she can't exactly hold it against us, can she?" Dan replied. "I mean, she and Frank were together once upon a time."

Zoe sighed and started to say something, but Dan cut her off by kissing her, his mouth crushing against hers. Zoe wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back as Dan's arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her as close as he could get her as he tilted his head further to the side, his nose pressing into her cheek.

"I love you." Dan gasped when they pulled apart, his forehead resting against hers. Zoe just grinned and pulled him back down for another kiss.

* * *

Zoe woke up the next morning, feeling like she'd lost something. It was silly to think that way, but she felt incomplete, as if there was a part of her that had gotten up and walked away while she slept. At first she couldn't work out what it was, but then she remembered how she'd fallen asleep – with Dan's arms wrapped securely around her. She pushed her hair out of her face and looked around, feeling slightly unsure of what to do with herself. She and Dan had been sneaking around for nearly a month now, stealing kisses when everyone else's backs were turned, sneaking into each other's bedrooms at night, but she didn't think she'd ever get used to this – get used to the horribly lost feeling that was felt when she woke up and he wasn't there, or the longing that she felt as he kissed continued to burn on her lips long after she'd been released from his embrace.

Like she'd told Dan in the early hours of the morning, she hated this. All she'd ever wanted was to be with him, to kiss him whenever she wanted, to know that he was hers. And now, she had him, but it was the most horrible, cruel substitute for _really _being with him.

The only evidence that Dan had been there at all was the red rose left on her pillow with the note next to it, written in his neat boyish handwriting, '_I hate this just as much as you do. Don't forget, I love you.'_

He hadn't signed it, but Zoe knew it was Dan who had written it – his writing was so distinctly his that she would have recognised it if she were blind. A smile tugging at her lips, Zoe picked up the rose, her fingers tracing the shape of the petals. They felt soft and velvety and she remembered how, once, Dan had told her that he liked roses because the petals reminded him of the feel of her skin. He'd also commented that he preferred red ones because the red reminded him of the colour of her hair.

Zoe smiled and got up, the rose in one hand and the note in the other as she walked over to the window. She heaved it open and closed her eyes as the cold morning air blew in, ruffling her auburn hair. She sighed and opened her eyes, looking down at the rose one last time before she lobbed it out the window as far as she could, tears stinging her eyes. She brushed them away as she turned to the note, ripping it up and curling her fingers around the ripped pieces of paper. Then she turned her wrist so that the back of her hand was facing the ground and uncurled her fingers, watching in fascination as the wind travelled the ripped paper away from her.

Zoe slammed her window shut and leaned against it, one hand reaching up to twirl her hair around her finger as the words that had been written on the back of his note that she hadn't even seen burned her eyelids each time she blinked. She hadn't read them because she knew by now that they were always there – his promise that he knew just how much she hated this and that things would get better, that they'd somehow find a loophole around this damned protocol, that somehow, if she continued to love him, one day the whole would know how much she loved him.

Some days, that was the only thing that kept her going.


	14. Chapter 14

Dan stared at his exam paper, his conflicting emotions concerning it swirling underneath his thick blonde hair. Part of him wondered how _stupid _it was – why would you want to tell someone what career they'd be suited to? Wasn't half the fun deciding for yourself? Another part of him just wanted to use this lesson to study – and by study, he meant making out with Zoe in a dark classroom. The rest of him, though, felt reserved in regards to the test, eying each question sceptically. What if he did this test and it came back with something different, like a doctor? What if he decided to quit MI9?

_You get to be with Zoe then_, an annoying little voice in the back of his head hissed. _Only one of you has to quit to find your way around the protocol, idiot. _

Dan reluctantly agreed with the voice and looked up as Mrs King walked past him. "What kind of exam is this?"

"It's an _aptitude _test, Daniel." Mrs King explained. "To determine what job you might be suited to. It's to kick off the 'Fun Futures' fair I've organised."

"I sometimes wonder if I should have taken a different career path." Mr Flatley, standing at the back of the room, said.

"Ha! Funny that. So do I." Mrs King said. Dan threw a glance over his shoulder at Zoe, who gave him a look in return that told him that she was definitely trying her hardest not to start laughing.

The whole class jumped up as the bell rang, passing their exam papers to Mrs King on their way out. Dan and Zoe stumbled out of the class first and as they waited for Tom and Aneisha, Dan remembered the dress Zoe had worn to the Centenary Party. The mere memory of the flimsy black material that had clung to Zoe's body brought a smile to his face.

"You've got that look again." Zoe said, crossing her arms over her chest and smirking at him.

"What look?" Dan asked, leaning his head back against the wall and looking at her.

"The look that says, 'I'm thinking about Zoe wearing next to nothing'."

"Well, to be fair, I never knew what you looked like with next to nothing on until the Centenary Party." Dan replied. Zoe started to say something, but she held her tongue as Tom and Aneisha appeared. Immediately, Tom started chattering to Dan about _Blade Quest, _which the blonde easily managed to tune out while still looking as if he were listening, but Aneisha cast Zoe a curious glance, which the redhead simply shrugged off.

When they reached the boys' lockers, Dan opened his, scoffing about the aptitude test as Zoe and Aneisha leaned against the unopened lockers. When Dan shut his locker, they found Frank leaning on the end of the lockers, holding tickets that had 'DERREN BEIGE' printed in bold, black lettering in the middle.

"Tickets to see Derren Beige? Cool." Zoe said, suddenly excited.

"He's been sold out for weeks. How did you get them?" Aneisha asked, Zoe's excitement rubbing off on her as the two girls exchanged eager glances.

"I have my sources." Frank said, leaning against two rows of lockers.

The two boys, however, didn't share the girls' excitement.

"Am I meant to know who Derren Beige is?" Dan asked, glancing between Frank and Tom.

"It's a lame act. He _pretends _he can see the future." Tom said, wiggling his fingers.

Zoe laughed. "That's rich, coming from Blade Quest Boy."

Tom pointed his ticket at her accusingly. "Hey. A deranged author trying to take over the world is different from some idiot scamming everyone into thinking he can see the future."

Zoe rolled her eyes and Dan grinned at her as Aneisha asked, "Is this the 'thankyou' for rescuing the Prime Minister's poodle?"

"It's your new assignment." Frank said.

* * *

"I hear something. What is that? Is that . . . purring? Yes. It's a cat. A big black cat." The man onstage, wearing a grey suit and pink shirt, said. Immediately, clapping enthused throughout the audience before he continued, "And his name is . . . Skittles! Thank you. Skittles is talking to me right now, he's a very happy cat, that's why he's purring. And he's happy because he's eating his favourite dish – his favourite food which is . . ." He turned to look at the impressed blonde woman standing on one side of the stage before he finished his sentence. "Eggs. Benedict."

"That can't be good for the cat." Aneisha commented as Zoe continued to watch Derren Beige's performance and Dan continued to fight the urge to intertwine her fingers with his own.

"This was Beige a month ago." Frank said, pulling out his spy pod and showing them a video. Zoe could hardly believe it was the same man – the Derren in the video was wearing a golden suit and was absolutely terrible. He sounded nervous and within ten seconds, he was booed off the stage as chips rained down on him. Dan, confused, looked between the Derren onstage and the Derren onscreen. _Surely _they weren't the same person. No one could become that confident onstage in the space of a month _and _no one could improve that much in the space of a month, either.

"Now look at him." Frank said, putting the spy pod away and pointing onstage to where Derren and another man were just turning around the drawings they'd both just produced – which were both almost identical.

"In the past four weeks, Derren Beige has published winning lottery numbers and the results of horse races _and _football matches." Aneisha added.

"Oh, come on. He's just a clever showman." Tom said sceptically.

"I wouldn't be so sure." Dan contradicted. "The CIA have investigated psychic abilities – maybe Beige is really crack recognition."

Zoe suddenly felt surge of pride directed at him – he'd become a lot more open-minded since the Dark Wizard incident and she was proud of him.

"There's no way. It's some kind of trick." Tom insisted.

"Then why are MI9 so interested?" Dan asked.

"More and more people are following his predictions." Frank said. "This is causing chaos. Your mission is to find out how the scam works and put a stop to it – before things get out of hand."

The team looked up as clapping enthused and Derren announced, "There will be a short intermission. Don't go running away," before he walked offstage. Frank gestured for Dan, Zoe and Aneisha to move and they did, the three of them easily finding one of the doors on the side of the room.


	15. Chapter 15

Derren's dressing room wasn't _that _hard to find – the door had a big yellow star with 'Derren' written on top on it. Aneisha knocked on the door and opened it as the three of them settled into the characters of three excited fans about to meet their idol.

"Mr Beige, we're from your fan club. Thank you so much for agreeing to see us." Aneisha said excitedly, pencil and pad in hand.

"Of course, the interview." Derren said, gesturing to the couch.

"I bet you know the questions already." Dan said, grinning, as he and Zoe walked further into the room.

Derren chuckled, reaching up to touch the amulet dangling from his neck as he plonked himself down into a white spinning chair. "It doesn't work like that."

"How does it work?" Zoe asked. She didn't need to pretend to be curious – she had a burning curiosity to know how this all worked, how Derren was making his predictions. She wasn't convinced that Derren could actually see the future, like Dan was, but she _did _want to know _how _he was doing this.

Derren simply touched his amulet before turning to Aneisha. "First question."

"Right. Which clairvoyant do you most admire?" Aneisha asked as Dan and Zoe walked to the back of the room, digging into their pockets for their spy pods as Derren replied, "Oh, there's so many, but if I had to choose one, I would say . . . Nostradamus. In the sixteenth century, he published an almanac of prophecies."

As he continued speaking – which he seemed to do just to hear his own voice, Zoe noted – Dan hid his spy pod in one of the plants scattered around the room so that it could scan for any hidden gadgets. It came up with none.

"An example being the enduring popularity of horoscopes." Derren was saying. "People have always wanted to know what the future holds."

_I'll say, _Zoe thought ruefully. "What's with all the drawings of teddies?"

Derren turned in his chair so that he could see what had grabbed Zoe's attention – the countless drawings of stuffed teddy bears pinned to the wall. "Oh. That. Um . . . When I come offstage, it's how I like to unwind."

"One last question." Aneisha said as he turned back to face her. "When you were growing up, did you always want to be a clairvoyant?"

Derren turned to look at something on his mirror. Curious, Zoe and Aneisha strained their necks trying to see what he was looking at, but neither of them could see it very well.

"I'm sorry, but I must ask you to leave." Derren said suddenly, getting up. "I have to prepare for the second half of the show."

He leaned dramatically on the desk as the three spies walked out, ignoring Dan's look that told him that the blonde thought he was a little eccentric.

When the door closed behind them, they all shared a glance.

"What do you think?" Dan asked.

"I think he's _definitely _hiding something." Aneisha said.

"I'm more worried about what those teddies mean." Zoe said. "There was so many of them and did you see how uncomfortable he looked when I asked about them? They have to mean something and I don't think it's good."

Neither Dan nor Aneisha knew what to say to that.

"We should get back to Tom and Frank." Dan said finally, leading the two girls back down the corridor.

* * *

When Dan, Zoe and Aneisha got back to Tom and Frank, they were watching the video feed from Dan's spy pod, which he'd left in Beige's dressing room.

"What _is_ he doing?" Tom asked.

Curious, Dan, Zoe and Aneisha, gathered around the back of Frank's chair so they could see Derren drawing so fast that his hand was just a blur – he had to be drawing five pictures within three seconds. They continued to watch as Derren continued to draw until he stopped, standing up and staring at the drawing in his hands – the contents of which they couldn't see. He stared at it until two big, burly men dressed in black walked in and hauled Derren out, the clairvoyant kicking and shouting against them.

"Someone's kidnapping Beige!" Dan cried as Frank shut the spy pod and got up. "Tom, Aneisha, take the front exit. Dan, Zoe, you're with me."

Dan and Zoe didn't even wait for Frank to get up, they just took off in the direction of the other exit. Zoe dodged around a chair in her way while Dan just leaped over it, pulling his long legs up as he sailed easily through the air.

Zoe, Dan and Frank rushed out into the corridor, only to have their way blocked by two people in one of those collective cow suits. Zoe made a frustrated noise and pushed at it, but they wouldn't move.

"Get out of the way!" Dan shouted, shoving past the cow and leaping over the black box behind it. Zoe and Frank followed closely behind so that the three of them stumbled outside to find a big black van driving away from them. Before it turned the corner, Zoe caught a glimpse of a face in the window at the back of the van. It was man's face, with bright blue eyes and cubby cheeks and brown hair that had so many hair products in it that it visibly looked like it was made of hairspray.

Zoe started after the van, but Dan grabbed her arm as he stared at the empty space that the van had only _just _occupied. "Forget it, Zo. You'll never catch up to it. It's long gone now."

Zoe stared dejectedly after the van that was no longer there, but she listened to him, her body sagging in defeat. He was right. Derren was long gone by now.


	16. Chapter 16

Stella dumped so many of Derren's drawings on the table that they slid across each other before sliding off the other side, her face a mask of barely contained fury as Frank protested, "There was this cow –"

"This is _not _a joke." Stella said, earning her a confused look from Frank. "I'm taking a lot of crap from my superiors. How could you let this happen?"

"It was surveillance mission!" Frank protested. "_Our _superior told us to investigate, _not_ protect him."

"I don't see what the big deal is. Beige is obviously a fraud." Tom piped up.

"Tom's right. Whoever took Beige will release him just as soon as they realise the whole thing's a _scam._" Frank said, happy that, finally, _someone _was backing him up on this.

"I thought scientists were meant to keep an open mind." Stella shot back. "What if Beige really can see the future?"

"It would make him a huge asset to MI9." Dan admitted.

"Or a threat." Aneisha added.

Zoe just stared at her feet, examining the worn parts in the leather boots. She _really _didn't like where this was going.

"Precisely." Stella said. "I'll tell you what the facts are, _Frank. _Beige was kidnapped and we have _no idea _who took him."

"We're trying to trace the van." Dan said.

"I've hacked into the traffic cams." Tom added.

"Stop! All of you, stop what you're doing." Stella said. Immediately, everyone shut up as she said, "You're suspended. You too, Frank."

"You can't be serious." Frank said.

"Derren Beige was snapped from right under your noses and this isn't the first time you've let a target get away." Stella reasoned.

"You mean the Mastermind and the Crime Minister." Dan said, his gaze flickering quickly to Zoe, who was standing at his side, still as silent as a mouse. She was started to worry him – she hadn't said a word since Stella had started yelling at them.

"HQ are asking _a lot _of difficult questions about the team." Stella said.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence." Aneisha said bitterly.

"Oh, I've got your backs, believe me!" Stella exclaimed. "You're lucky it's only a suspension."

This shocked a reaction out of Zoe – she looked up at Stella with the look of a sad and confused little girl, before changing to desperation as she looked at Dan.

"Other agents will take it from here. Please, don't get into any more trouble. Now go back to school." Stella said. Reluctantly, the dark-skinned girl, the tech whiz, the school caretaker, the boy who was a lot smarter than his hair colour suggested and the girl who had pulled through every time the word decided it hated her, walked into the lift, all staring at Stella's back as the doors closed.

* * *

Dan glanced quickly around the corridor, his attention focused mainly on Tom, Frank and Aneisha. All three seemed to dejected with their own troubles to focus much on what anyone else was doing, so they didn't notice when Dan grabbed Zoe's arm and all but dragged her into the nearest classroom.

Dan locked the door behind them before he walked over to the window, closing the blinds before walking back to Zoe, who was leaning against one of the tables with a lost expression clouding her features.

"Hey." Dan said, moving towards her and brushing her hair away from her face. "Are you okay?"

Zoe took a deep breath and shook her head. Then she laughed bitterly. "We just got fired. But we didn't really get fired so I can't do this," she said, grabbing his tie and pressing her mouth against his before she continued, "where everyone can see it."

She sighed, sitting on the table. Dan's hand slipped from her cheek as she stared down at her own hands. "I don't like being in this situation, Dan. I don't like feeling scared. I don't like not knowing what's going to happen next."

She ducked her head to hide her tears, but Dan touched her chin and made her look up at him, brushing away her tears with his thumb. Neither of them said anything for a very long time, they just stared at each other, neither knowing quite where to start.

"I don't know what's going to happen now." Dan said quietly. "I wish I did, Zo. So much, I wish I could tell you that I know everything's going to work out fine, the way it did last time we faced being sacked. But I don't know that and I don't like lying to you. I don't want to _ever _lie to you."

Zoe nodded and tried to lower her head again, but Dan's grip on her chin tightened as his gaze became more intense. "But I will tell you what I do know, Zo. I know that each time something bad's happened, we've pulled through because of what we have. Even before, when we were trying to find the Extranium reactor, I _knew _that you trusting everybody so much was one day going to turn around and bite you in the arse. Zoe, our love isn't the kissing, the sneaking around. It's the fact that we understand each other more than we understand ourselves. It's that we trust each other with our lives. It's that . . . when I'm not with you, I want you with me so much that sometimes it hurts."

Zoe kissed him again, but this kiss was longer, slower. Zoe's mouth pressed gently against Dan's as she wrapped her arms around his neck, feeling his hair tickling her fingertips. Zoe gasped when she felt Dan's tongue run across her bottom lip and she tightened her hold on him when he started exploring the confides of her mouth.

When they broke apart, Dan rested his forehead against Zoe's, eyes still shut, as his breathing came in quick gasps. Zoe slid her hand from his neck to his cheek and Dan's eyes flickered open, staring into hers as she said, "I love you."

Dan laughed.

"What?"

Dan's expression sobered, wrapping one arm loosely around Zoe's waist. "Nothing. It's just that it takes you three words what takes me a whole speech to say."

Zoe smiled up at him. "The speech sounds better."


	17. Chapter 17

Later, at Mrs King's 'Futures Fair,' Dan, Zoe and Tom wandered aimlessly. Aneisha was off somewhere, doing God knows what and really, the three other suspended agents were too depressed to worry about her absence.

Dan looked up at the red banner that said, in yellow writing, 'St Heart's Fun Futures Fair' and commented wryly, "That sounds like a video game for little kids."

They noticed Frank standing next to his own stall and they walked over, resulting in him pulling out a mop and asking, "Can interest you in a bucket and mop?"

Dan shook his head and Frank added, quieter, "It comes fully loaded."

Right on cue, an antenna shot up, out of the top of the mop. Tom gently pushed it back down with his finger and Zoe watched the whole exchange sadly as Dan said, "The way Stella was talking it might be the last gadget any of us get to play with."

Before anyone could answer, Aneisha walked up, carrying a yellow 'Fun Futures' plastic bag, stuffed with papers. She dumped it in Dan's arms and Zoe asked, "Are those full of careers leaflets? We will get our jobs back, you know."

Aneisha ignored Zoe's commented as she pulled out a drawing, showing it to them. It featured what looked like a terrified Derren Beige, two men hurling him into the back of a van. "I found some of Derren's pictures."

"Is that meant to be Beige being kidnapped?" Tom asked.

"Point is, he drew it _before _he was snatched. I think his pictures are how he makes his predictions." Aneisha replied.

"Interesting." Dan said, digging his hand into the bag.

"Get real." Tom said.

Zoe stuck her hand into the bag of Derren's pictures and pulled one out at random. It featured four teens – two boys and two girls – standing outside a big building in a line. She turned it around so that the others could see it. "Guys, don't you think this looks like us?"

Frank grabbed the picture from her hands, scoffing. "I'm sure there's a perfectly rational explanation, Zoe."

"There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Heratio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy." Mr Flatley, dressed in a Victorian-looking red and green outfit and carrying a book in his hands, said. Frank stuffed the drawing into a box behind him as they all stared at Mr Flatley, confused.

"You what?" Tom asked finally.

"Hamlet." Mr Flatley replied, waving his book. "I'm trying my hand at acting."

As the four teens and the school caretaker looked on in amusement, he slipped back into character and said, "Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow creeps in this petty place, from day to day, to the last syllable of recorded _time!_"

With that, he left, leaving a confused Frank, slightly amused Tom and Aneisha, and a Dan and Zoe who were trying to keep their giggles contained. Aneisha pulled out the drawing of Beige being kidnapped, returning their attention to the problem at hand. "Maybe Shakespeare's right. Maybe there's things we can't explain."

* * *

Zoe sat down miserably beside Dan, leafing through the pamphlets in her hands just as miserably, mumbling the name of each one as she said it, "Cookery. Accountancy. Child care. Music."

Sighing, she threw the pamphlets away from her, but they tumbled and rolled through the air to land at her feet. She kicked at one of them, clenching her jaw angrily as tears brimmed her eyes. She _hated _this. Why would Stella do this to them?

Zoe squeezed her eyes shut and leaned back, putting her hands on the sides of the seat. She felt the familiar tingle of Dan's skin brushing against her own as he placed his hand over her's quickly, the only form of comfort he could provide in such a crowded space before he withdrew his hand.

Zoe looked over at Aneisha, glad for the distraction, as she sat down beside the redhead. "Ugh."

"What?" Zoe asked. Dan leaned forward so he could look past Zoe, resting his hands on his knees.

"My auntie. She keeps trying to get me into things. She's especially keen for me to get into medicine." Aneisha replied.

Zoe grimaced. "Yuck. Cutting people open and performing surgery? No thanks."

Dan let out a stifled groan, gesturing around them. "_This_ is a waste of time. I've already got the job I want. Well, at least I did until we got suspended."

"Dan's right." Aneisha said. "We should be out looking for Beige."

Tom, shooting at a target with a _NERF _gun at the Military stall beside them, said, "Ah, chill. It's only a matter of time before whoever's got him realises they've got a dud on their hands."

"Yeah, but what happens to him then?" Zoe asked. "Will they set him free or will they kill him?"

"Not everyone is as cruel and insane as the Crime Minister, Zo." Dan said gently. "Most people would just let him go."

"Most people wouldn't kidnap him in the first place." Zoe retorted.

Dan shrugged. "My point _is . . . _I'm sure Beige'll be fine."

Zoe rested her head in her hands. "I hate this. I hate just . . . doing nothing. We should be doing something, not sitting here looking through careers leaflets when we _know _none of them are going to interest us anyway."

Aneisha agreed with her, but she also knew that they should change the subject before they decided to do something very stupid. "Hey, where's Byron this year? I thought he said he was coming back after going to Boldovia for Christmas."

"He was." Zoe replied. "But he got picked up by a Boldovian record company and now he's living over there." She sighed. "I miss Byron."

"I don't miss Byron's singing." Dan said. Zoe kicked him in the shin and he grinned at her as she said, "He was your friend too, Dan, no matter how bad a singer he is."

"And plus, there are worst people who we've known." Aneisha replied.

"Like who?" Dan asked.

Zoe threw him a pointed look. "Melissa?"

Dan groaned, causing them all to laugh. "Don't even go there."


	18. Chapter 18

Later, Zoe, Aneisha and Frank found Dan and Tom laughing at something. Smothering the urge to roll her eyes, Zoe decided that she didn't want to know what it was – half the jokes those two shared she didn't even understand, let alone find funny.

"Dan. Tom." Frank said. Both boys turned to face him as he started speaking, "KORPS have committed a series of robberies. They seem to have inside information – time and place of diamond shipment, combination to a bank vault. It's like they've suddenly become . . ."

"What?" Tom asked.

Zoe and Aneisha shared a glance. "Clairvoyant." They said together.

Dan's blue eyes flickered up. "KORPS have Derren Beige."

"They'll be able to anticipate our every move!" Aneisha said.

"Figure out our secret identities, know where our bases are." Dan said.

"They'll figure out where Keri and Libi are." Zoe said, her voice containing a scared quality that Dan recognised immediately, although he'd only heard it a few times. He had to admit that she was right, although Keri and Libi hadn't even crossed his mind until she mentioned them.

"Come on, Beige must be using some kind of mathematical algorithm to do this." Tom said.

"Yes. That would require huge amounts of data. Tom, let's go grab some numbers." Frank said, walking off with the genius.

"Stella won't be happy." Zoe said quietly.

"Leave Stella to me." Frank said. "We have to work on the assumption that KORPS could find St Heart's at any moment. Stay alert. Everyone here is in danger."

With that, he and Tom walked off, leaving Dan, Zoe and Aneisha looking around cautiously, their every sense tuned to the slightest thing that was out of the ordinary.

"Alright. Keep your eyes open for anything unusual." Dan said, stepping back, his blue eyes darting from side to side as he surveyed the room. His focus was broken, however, when he tripped on a wooden box behind him and he turned to see Mr Flatley, now dressed in an archaeologist's costume, playing in the sandbox.

"Hello, everyone." Mr Flatley said. "I'm trying archaeology. It's so exciting! You never know what you might find, you just have to keep digging!"

"That's it." Aneisha said, grabbing Dan and Zoe and pulling them along with her as she walked away from Mr Flatley.

"What?" Zoe asked.

"Derren's pictures anticipated his own kidnapping." Aneisha explained. "Couldn't it be possible that one of his other drawings could tell us where KORPS have him?"

"Neish, you're a genius!" Zoe cried as they walked out into the corridor.

"But what about KORPS?" Dan asked. "They could show up at any moment."

Zoe glanced at him quickly and just in that quick glance, she saw what he wanted to do – he wanted to stay here and defend the school. She knew that he would fight for and die for the people that were now in danger because of Derren's kidnapping.

"If we find Derren first, KORPS won't know where to find us." Aneisha said.

"And where do you think you're going?"

Reluctantly, the three teens turned around to face Mrs King.

"Something important just came up." Aneisha said.

"More important than your future?" Mrs King asked. "Your career? Don't you _want _to make something of your life, Aneisha?"

"I am making something of my life!" Aneisha yelled back, fuming. She hadn't even completely realised what she'd said until she said.

"Neish." Dan said, his tone low and warning.

Aneisha sighed. "I'm sorry. I mean . . . One day I will. You'll be really proud of me, I promise."

"Life isn't a game, Aneisha." Mrs King said. "Do you think I always wanted to be a teacher?"

Aneisha stifled a groan. Here comes the ancient history lesson.

"When I was your age," Mrs King continued, "I wanted to be an astronaut. Yeah. That's right, I wanted to go to the _moon. _But luckily for me, somebody brought me right back down to Earth and put me on a path to a sensible career."

"That's the thing." Aneisha said. "If I want to go to the moon I can quickly be brought right back down to Earth, I want to be told to reach for the stars. I'm sorry. I have to go."

With a pointed look from Dan, the three teens left, leaving their deputy head teacher staring after them in astonishment. No one, especially not her own niece, had talked to her that way before. She remembered back to when she was sixteen and wanted to see the stars on their territory, to stand weightlessly on the ball of rock the Earth saw each night and see stars, no matter which direction she was looking.

Sighing as she walked away, the strict teacher couldn't help wondering if maybe Aneisha was right. Maybe sensible and solid _weren't _the best ways to go when choosing a career for yourself. Maybe doing what you loved was what counted.


	19. Chapter 19

Dan, Zoe and Aneisha walked out of the lift, Aneisha carrying her bag of Derren's drawings.

"We _have _to keep digging." Aneisha said, grabbing a bunch of Derren's drawings and putting them on the table. Together, she and Zoe started to sort through them as Frank said, "'Keep digging'? What?"

"One of Derren's drawings anticipated his _own_ kidnapping. Maybe one of his _other _drawings anticipated where KORPS have him." Aneisha replied.

"So Derren Beige is gonna help us find Derren Beige. Love it." Dan said, grinning. Zoe smiled and shook her head as she continued sorting through the drawings.

"You're wasting your time." Tom said.

"How'd that mathematical algorithm thing work out?" Dan asked.

Tom looked away sheepishly and muttered, "I found nothing unusual."

"I rest my case." Dan said.

"I think I've found it." Zoe said, pushing drawings away from the one she was looking at. Dan looked at it over her shoulder, looking up at Frank before looking down at the drawing again.

* * *

"It doesn't connect. The clues in the drawing sent us here, so why send us to the station? It's on the other side of the city." Aneisha said as they ran, three pairs of feet pounding against the concrete pavement.

"We're missing something." Dan replied.

"Tom. What _exactly _did Beige draw?" Zoe asked into her communicator.

"_It's like an old-fashioned train." _Tom replied. _"Like the ones you see in the Westerns with steam coming out the front."_

Zoe touched Dan's chest and then pointed to the front of the building they found themselves outside – they could see a sign on the wall and next to it, a long pipe with steam coming out the top. They approached it and as they neared, Dan could read the sign properly. It said, 'S-CORP TRAINING ACADEMY'. Dan put his hand over the last three letters of 'TRAINING' and sighed before he said into his communicator, "We found our train."

"_Great. Is there a gate?"_

"Take one guess." Aneisha replied, pointing to the gate they found themselves standing outside of.

"_How does Beige do it?" _Tom asked, befuddled.

"We might make a believer out of you yet." Aneisha replied, grinning.

"_The gate." _Frank said. "_It's electrified. Be careful."_

Dan opened his spy pod and placed it on the gate, stepping back and covering his face with his arms. The gate started to spark and then the dull buzzing that had told them that it was electrified, stopped.

Dan pulled the spy pod off the gate and yanked on it. "Damn. It's locked."

He started to unlock it using his spy pod, but then Zoe dropped onto the other side, a smile tugging at her mouth.

"How did you –" Dan asked.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Zoe asked, her eyes sparkling with mischief as she unlocked the gate and held it open for them.

"You're amazing." Dan said, grinning as he walked through the gateway. "Has anyone ever told you that?"

Zoe smirked. "I believe that you have."

"Tom, we're in." Aneisha said, closing the gate before she sprinted after Dan and Zoe, who could move much faster, thanks to their much longer legs.

"_Okay." _Tom said. "_Head for the red zone."_

* * *

"What are we looking for?" Dan asked, pushing the door open.

Tom hissed through his teeth in frustration. "_A . . . tomato? I don't –"_

"Well," Aneisha said, stopping outside a red door. "It's a shade of tomato."

Dan walked up to the door and slammed his foot into it. The forces behind his kick weren't enough to knock the door off its hinges, but it was enough for it to fly open, revealing Derren Beige handcuffed to a table.

"The kids from my fan club?" Derren asked as Dan knelt down beside him, examining the cuffs around Derren's wrist.

"Well, actually we're MI9." Aneisha said.

"_Oh_. It was _you _in my drawing." Derren replied.

"Paperclip." Dan said, holding up one hand. Zoe grabbed the piece of paper hanging closest to her head and pulled it down off the string cutting through the room above their heads, slipping the paperclip off the paper and handing it to Dan.

As Dan, paperclip in hand, started struggling with the handcuffs, Derren said, "I've sent the Crime Minister on a wild goose chase to completely the wrong end of the base. She's going to be furious when she finds out."

Dan got the handcuffs undone and stood, leaning on the table as he said, "Then let's get out of here before she does."

He followed Derren and Aneisha out, but Zoe lingered, staring at the drawing in her hands and then looking around her. Such a large percentage of the drawings were of teddy bears. What _was _it about them? Why did Derren keep drawing them?

"Zoe." Dan gasped, colliding with the doorframe. "What are you doing? Let's go."

Zoe showed him the drawing in her hand. "These teddy bears _mean _something, Dan. I know they do."

"Yeah, well, we can figure out what when we get back to HQ." Dan said impatiently.

Zoe sighed, but she followed him. As they moved towards the big, heavy door they'd used to enter the building, Zoe heard a woman yell, "It's V95! Grab her!"

Zoe and Dan both turned to see about five KORPS agents and the Crime Minister standing behind them. Dan moved forward and slammed his foot into the stomach of the first KORPS agent he reached, sending him staggering backwards into the two behind him.

Dan watched in amusement as the three agents lay together on the floor and the Crime Minister started screaming at them to get up and not let an 'insolent child' get the better of them. Dan heard a grunt off to his right and turned to see Zoe fighting off the remaining two agents. She was holding her own pretty well, but she was tiring quickly.

Dan grabbed one of the KORPS agents Zoe was fighting and pulled him back towards him, spinning him around and kicking him in the stomach. That sent him stumbling into the others and when Zoe managed to subdue the last agent, he joined the others on the floor.

Naturally, the Crime Minister had disappeared. Nevertheless, Dan and Zoe shared a grin as Aneisha said from behind them, "Can I not take you two _anywhere _without you beating people up? Jesus Christ."


	20. Chapter 20

"Which part of being suspended did you not understand?" Stella snarled, walking out of the lift. As she approached the team, Aneisha and Dan shuffled to the side so that she could see Derren Beige.

"Oh." Stella said lamely. "I'm glad to see you safe and well, Mr Beige. Now, MI9 would like to know how you make your predictions."

"Oh, I'm sorry, but I can't tell you." Derren said, touching the amulet hanging from his neck.

"Why the hell not?" Zoe asked.

"Just as your profession prizes secrecy, so does mine." Derren answered.

"Uh, Derren, when I asked if you always wanted to be a clairvoyant, you never answered." Aneisha said.

"Well I had to prepare." Derren replied.

"You're hiding something." Zoe said.

"The show must go on." Derren said.

"Why?" Aneisha asked. "Why is it so important?"

"Because . . . That's what he always said."

Zoe's expression softened and she glanced down at the table, where there was, along with a heap of Derren's drawings, a photo of a clairvoyant named Roderic. Zoe picked it up and offered it to him. "Is this who you're talking about?"

Derren took it, his cast downward at it as he sat down in a chair. "It's my old man. He put on one hell of a show. Cold reading, telepathy, mentalism – he wanted me to follow in his footsteps."

"But you didn't want to?" Aneisha asked.

"I only ever wanted to be an artist." Derren replied. "Instead I went onstage. Trouble is, I was rubbish at it. Until . . ." He coughed, his voice deepening. "I'm a big success now. Dad would be proud."

"Derren, what you do is amazing, but in the hands of the wrong people it can be really dangerous." Aneisha said.

Zoe noticed that Derren was touching his amulet again. He seemed to do that every single time anyone asked how his ability to tell the future worked. Suddenly, all the pieces clicked into place in Zoe's head. "Neish. The amulet."

Aneisha grinned at her friend over her shoulder. "I was just thinking the exact same thing, Zo." Then she turned back to Derren, holding her hand out. "Give me the amulet."

Derren looked quickly between the two girls. "How did you – "

"It's not science, just simple phycology." Aneisha said.

"When Stella asked how you make your predictions, you touched it without realising." Zoe added. Dan glanced across at her, a small smile playing on his mouth. All of a sudden, he really wanted to kiss her, to tell her how amazing she was. Instead he held himself back, gripping the table until his knuckles turned white.

Derren smiled. "You two would make _great _stage clairvoyants."

"I already have a job I love." Aneisha replied as Derren took off his amulet, placing it into Aneisha's outstretched hand.

"I found it a month ago." Derren said as Tom started scanning it. "Now, whenever I go into a trance, hey presto, I catch glimpses of the future. Some of it doesn't make much sense but I draw it all the same."

"The crystal in Derren's amulet is from a T.E.D." Frank said.

"T.E.D. Ted. Teddy bears." Zoe said.

"What?" Dan asked.

"All the pictures of the teddy bears." Zoe said. "That's what they mean. What is a T.E.D anyway?"

"Temporal Energy Device." Stella replied.

"It's an experimental technology that harnesses the kinetic energy of time." Frank said.

"Yeah, this thing's _covered _in temporal energy particles." Tom said.

"Danger with a T.E.D is that it can be used to manipulate time itself." Stella said. "Even rewrite history."

"At KORPS there were _heaps _of drawings of teddy bears." Zoe said. "If the Crime Minister works out what they mean . . ."

"We have to secure this T.E.D _now." _Stella said.

"We don't even know where it is." Tom said.

Without a word, Derren got up, put his amulet on, grabbed a pencil and paper and slipped into a trance. Zoe watched, mesmerised, as Derren's hand glided across the page. She felt a small smile tug at her mouth as Dan's fingers found her own, the touch of his skin against her own making her skin feel like it was on fire. She bit back a contented sigh as she tightened her fingers around his, keeping her eyes fixed on Derren so she wouldn't turn around and kiss Dan.

* * *

The four teens stumbled into the white room, completely empty except for the big metal sphere in the middle of the room, which was sitting on a white pole.

"What are you waiting for?" Dan asked Tom. "Destroy it."

"This thing's hooked into the timeline." Tom replied. "If I get something wrong, there's a chance I could wipe out the past the present and the future."

"Be careful." Aneisha said.

As Tom opened up the sphere, alarm bells started going off and the lights started flashing red.

"KORPS." Dan said, blue eyes flickering from side to side as his every sense went on red alert.

"Whatever happens, you can't let them get ahold of T.E.D." Aneisha said.

"Tell me something I don't know." Tom replied, pulling out Derren's amulet.

Dan spun around as KORPS came in. He shoved two into the wall and kicked another one in the stomach while Zoe took on another two and Aneisha took on one. They could hear a strange beeping noise coming from T.E.D, but none of them paid much attention to it – they trusted that Tom had it all under control.

Zoe grunted as she fought a particularly difficult KORPS agent – mainly because he was much bigger and stronger than she was. He easily grabbed her and shoved her into the wall and as she tried to get her bearings, she dodged another attack, but she wasn't fast enough to dodge the dart that sank into her calf. She heard Dan yell out as she collapsed on the floor, but she was already too far under. Dan grabbed the guy she'd been fighting and punched him in the face, sending him stumbling backwards into the wall.

"Tom!" Aneisha yelled, hanging onto her own KORPS agent in an effort to keep him from reaching the T.E.D. "We can't hold them! Do something!"

As three KORPS agents ran up behind him, Tom thrust Derren's amulet into the T.E.D, bringing the crystal in the T.E.D in contact with Derren's crystal. The T.E.D exploded, sending Tom and the KORPS agents flying backwards.


	21. Chapter 21

When the dust settled, Dan was the first one to raise his head. He remembered the dart sinking into Zoe's leg and her falling to the ground and he crawled over to her, only to find her pull herself up into sitting position, shaking auburn hair out of her eyes.

"You okay?" Dan asked.

Zoe nodded. "Must've just been a tranquiliser dart or something."

"Pretty weak tranquiliser dart." Dan replied.

Zoe shrugged, looking around. "Did we get it?"

Dan looked over at the T.E.D and gestured to it. "Well, the T.E.D's gone. I'd say that yeah, we got it."

"And look at this." Tom said, crawling over to them with Aneisha. He held up Derren's amulet and as they could see, Derren's crystal, which had been blue before, was now a dark onyx black.

"Well, at least you didn't destroy time." Zoe said, smiling despite her blinding headache and the dull throbbing in her leg.

"Mm-hm. That's a relief." Tom replied, looking down curiously at Derren's amulet.

* * *

"So you're saying the crystal in the amulet and the crystal in the T.E.D were one and the same?" Frank asked, confused.

"Exactly." Tom replied. "They should never have existed in the same time together. Bringing them into contact caused a short circuit."

"And in the resulting explosion the crystal must have got sucked back in time." Frank finished.

"To a month ago. When I found it in the alley." Derren said.

"So in other words . . . When Tom destroyed the T.E.D he not only finished the mission but he started it too?" Dan asked.

Zoe nodded uncertainly. The pain in her leg had faded and she'd taken a Panadol for her headache, but she couldn't help wondering why she was having this kind of reaction to a tranquiliser dart. She'd been hit by them before and she'd never had a reaction like this. What was going on?

"Sorry about your act." Aneisha apologised, passing Derren his amulet.

"Oh, not to worry." Derren replied. "I've made a lot of money this last month. So from now on, I'm going to do what I've always wanted to – paint."

"Good luck." Aneisha said as Derren was blindfolded and led out of HQ by two unknown MI9 agents in black suits.

"Well done. You're hereby officially reinstated." Stella announced.

"I'm just glad there was a rational explanation for the whole thing." Tom said.

"I still maintain . . . Logic doesn't have all the answers." Aneisha said, pushing a box towards Tom. Tom opened it and grinned, pulling out a crystal ball. "A fortune teller's crystal ball, what I've always wanted. Thankyou, Neish."

"Just remember; the past is history, the future's a mystery and today's a gift. That's why we call it the present." Aneisha replied, grinning.

Zoe smiled, her hand instinctively moving to rub the dull ache in her leg. Dan's brow furrowed as he watched her and Frank asked, "Zoe, are you alright?"

"Yeah. Well, I think so. It's just that damned dart. I'm having some kind of reaction to it."

"You don't usually have a reaction to darts like that. You're usually fine after half an hour." Frank said.

"I know. It's so weird."

"Do you want me to take a blood sample?"

"I don't want to be a bother." Zoe said.

"You'll be a bother if we have an agent who we have to take off duty because she's sick with a mysterious illness she caught from a tranquiliser dart." Stella said.

Zoe sighed, but she allowed Tom to take some blood so that he could work out what was wrong with her. Zoe couldn't meet Dan's eyes – they were too concerned, too full of love.

The team left Tom studying Zoe's blood sample as they went back up to the school. As soon as they walked out of the broom cupboard, Roly ran up to them, panting. "Guys, it's – it's . . ."

"Roly, slow down. What's going on?" Dan asked, grinning in amusement.

"Byron's back." Roly puffed.

"You're joking." Dan said.

"I'm dead serious." Roly replied.

Zoe and Aneisha exchanged a grin before they pushed past Roly, barrelling down several corridors until they stumbled outside. Both looked around eagerly until they saw a vaguely familiar boy with floppy black hair. Zoe noticed that he looked older than he had last time she saw him, but he still had the same cheeky grin as he cried, "Zoe!"

He walked up to them and hugged them both. "And how have you two been?"

"Oh, you know, the usual." Aneisha replied. "Auntie becomes new vice head teacher."

"Whoa. Good luck with that." Byron replied. He noticed Zoe looking at him curiously. "What?"

"You've got an accent." Zoe replied. And he did – he'd lost his thick Scottish accent in favour of an even thicker Boldovian one.

"Better be careful, Byron." Dan said, walking out with Roly. "You'll steal my status as the school heartthrob."

"And how is that a bad thing?" Byron asked, grinning.

Dan shrugged, laughing. "I suppose you're used to being chased by teenage girls, aren't you?"

Byron grinned and then turned to Zoe. "Do you wanna come show me how the school's changed?"

Zoe nodded and followed after him as he led her inside, feeling Dan's glare burn into her back. Byron turned around and gave Dan a strange look, but Dan just looked away. Aneisha started to say something, but then their pencil communicators started to flash.

Discreetly and quietly, the two crept away from the group and snuck down to the caretaker's cupboard. Dan was glad to have a distraction from his mind wondering what Zoe and Byron were doing.


	22. Chapter 22

The lift opened, revealing Dan and Aneisha. As they walked in, Dan asked, "Tom, why didn't you call Zoe?"

"Because I think you two need to hear this before she does." Tom said.

"Hear what?" Dan asked as he and Aneisha joined Tom at the table.

"You know that tranquiliser dart that Zoe got hit with?" Tom asked. "There was a reason behind it being used."

"Of course there was a reason behind it being used." Dan said, exasperated. "They wanted to knock her out so there'd be less of us to stand between them and the T.E.D!"

"You're not getting it. That wasn't an ordinary tranquiliser dart." Tom said. "It knocked her out, but not _just _so that it'd be easier for KORPS to get to the T.E.D. It was so that the formula inside would have time to get into her system and do what it needed to."

"Which was what?" Aneisha asked, sharing a confused glance with Dan.

Tom groaned. He couldn't bring himself to just come out and say it. He just couldn't do it. Instead, he'd have to make Dan and Aneisha realise it for themselves. "Do you remember, after STERNUM, when Zoe got sick? Do you remember her symptoms?"

"Yeah. Headaches, nausea, sore muscles." Dan replied. "Why?"

"What symptoms is Zoe suffering from now because of _this_?" Tom asked, holding up the tranquiliser dart.

"Headache. Sore leg and . . . she threw up on the side of the road on the way back." Dan said, his eyes growing into large blue saucers. Tom nodded as Dan sat down in a chair, his eyes glazing over as he stared into space. Finally, he said, "Zoe's now a perfect clone of the Mastermind."

Tom nodded gravely. God, he _hated _being the bearer of bad news.

* * *

"You and lover boy took your time then." Byron asked.

Zoe froze. How did he know? "What?"

"You and Dan? Look, I don't know why you two are trying to hide it and it's not really any of my business." Byron said. "All I know is that . . . keeping it a secret isn't really going to help anyone. You two are just going to end up miserable."

Zoe shrugged. "It's kind of complicated, Byron."

Byron sighed, pushing black hair out of his eyes. "How?"

"His parents don't like me." Zoe lied.

"They'll come around." Byron replied, grinning. Zoe shrugged and started to say something, but her phone going off cut her off. She pulled it out and opened up the text she'd received, biting back a lovesick smile when she saw that it was from Dan.

'Meet me at the hatch. I need to talk to you.'

"I need to go." Zoe said.

"Off to Lover Boy, then." Byron said with a grin as Zoe shoved her phone back into her pocket and started towards the door. Before she opened it, she paused and turned back. "Oh, and Byron –"

"Relax, your secret's safe with me." Bryon said. "Go. And tell Dan I've got no intentions of stealing his girlfriend from him."

Zoe nodded and smiled, slipping out of the classroom. She walked as quickly as she could, without making it obvious that she was in a hurry, to the hatch, where Dan was sitting on the edge of the garden, staring at his feet.

"Hey." Zoe said, walking up to him. "What's up?"

Dan raised his head and immediately Zoe's smiled dropped. Whatever it was that he needed to talk to her about, it was bad. It was very bad.

"Dan?" Zoe asked, worried.

"Sit down, Zo." Dan said, patting the space beside him.

"About us?" Zoe asked slowly, sitting down beside him.

"What? No, no, it's nothing like that. It's just, um . . . Tom's finished with your blood sample. He's worked out why you're reacting to it." Dan said.

"Okay." Zoe said.

"Do you remember . . . why Keri's and Libi are the perfect matches for the Mastermind?" Dan asked.

Zoe nodded. "Because they received extra treatment that makes them ideal. Dan, what has this got to do with me reacting to the tranquiliser dart?"

"Do you remember when you came down sick after Sternum?" Dan asked.

Zoe nodded. "Dan, you're scaring me. What's this about?"

He was stalling and they both knew it. Dan took a deep breath. "It . . . um, it wasn't just a tranquiliser dart. It held a formula. A formula that –" His voice broke and he dropped his head so that his forehead was resting against his knee and he took a deep breath.

"Hey. Hey, Dan, look at me." Zoe said, pulling on the back of his jumper. Dan reluctantly pulled his head up so she could see him. "Dan, just tell me what's going on. Okay, I love you no matter what."

Dan took a deep breath. She'd been so happy when she found out she wasn't _the _clone of the Mastermind. How could he look her in the eye and tell her the opposite? Finally, he said, "I failed you again, Zo."

Zoe's brow furrowed. "Dan, what's going on? What did the formula do?"

Dan swallowed. "The formula was the treatment that Keri and Libi got. It made you a perfect clone of the Mastermind."

Zoe sighed, running her hands through her hair. She leaned forward, resting her head in her hands as she fought the urge to burst into tears.

"Oh my God. Oh my God." Zoe said, sitting up properly and wiping unshed tears out of her eyes. "Okay. Okay."

Dan was sitting with his hands linked together, glaring at his own feet. "I keep screwing things up, don't I? It's wonder you want me anymore."

"No, you're not allowed to say that." Zoe said, reaching across and taking his hand. Dan slowly turned his head to look at her. "Dan, it's not your fault that I got hit with that dart, okay? It was my own fault because I wasn't fast enough. You expect too much of yourself."

Dan looked away. "Zoe, you almost got turned into the Mastermind because I couldn't get to you fast enough. I almost _killed _Frank and now, because of me, you're in danger of becoming the Mastermind every moment of every day."

Zoe squeezed his hands. "Dan, look at me."

Dan turned his head towards her and the look in his eyes almost killed her – the look of pure torment.

"Dan, none of this is your fault, okay? These things happen and in the end, it's my own fault. Not yours."

Dan sighed, resting his head against hers. "I love you so much."

Zoe smiled, turning her head slightly and pressing her mouth against his. When they broke apart, Zoe rested her forehead against his. "I love you too."


	23. Chapter 23

"So, how are you dealing . . . with everything?" Aneisha asked. It was almost a week after Zoe and Dan's discussion outside the hatch and Zoe was sleeping over at Aneisha's house. More than anything, Zoe would have wanted to spend the whole weekend with her mouth pressed against Dan's, but it had been a while since Zoe had stayed at Aneisha's and she needed to keep up the ruse that she and Dan were not more than just friends.

"Yeah, I'm okay." Zoe replied, shifting on her blow-up mattress. "It's just a bit a weird. I mean, I thought I was past the whole 'being a clone of the Mastermind' thing. And Frank's got me back in counselling."

Aneisha sighed. "I wish I could tell you I understand, Zoe, because I don't. But I get that this is really hard for you, okay? I want you to know that I'm here for you."

Zoe smiled, brushing unshed tears out her eyes. "Thanks, Neish."

Aneisha smiled, sitting back against the bedhead. "So . . . how long have you and Dan been sneaking around?"

In an uncharacteristic show of clumsiness, Zoe fell off the blow-up mattress. Shaking her auburn hair out of her eyes, she looked up and said, "I don't know what you're talking about."

Aneisha rolled her eyes. "Don't play games with me, Zo. I'm not stupid. I've noticed things. You two have been giving off this . . . _vibe _since The Mayze. I noticed the way Dan kept looking at you at the Centenary Party and he _insisted _on him telling you about the tranquiliser dart. And I saw you when he told you. Zoe, I saw you two _kissing_. I know you were raised in SKUL, but I'm sure you know that friends don't do that." She said. "And the way . . . the way you were with him after he told you. I _know _there's something going on between you two."

Zoe stared at her friend for a moment before she got up, sitting on the bed. "Neish, you have no idea how much I wanted to tell you, Neish, but I . . . I couldn't. I feel like . . . like I'm pulled in two. Like MI9's pulling me one way and my feelings for Dan are pulling me in a completely different direction."

"But why couldn't you tell me?" Aneisha asked. "Zoe, I'm your _best _friend. Why didn't you tell me?"

"I was scared." Zoe said. "Neish, I was so scared. I love him so much and after everything . . . I can't lose him. I just can't."

Aneisha hugged Zoe tightly, resting her head on the redhead's shoulder. "It's okay, Zo. I won't tell anyone."

Zoe pulled away, tears of relief running down her cheeks. "Thankyou, Neish."

"So . . . have you had sex with him yet?" Aneisha asked cheekily.

Zoe laughed and shoved at her friend. "Neish! Wha . . . Of course not!"

Aneisha laughed and Zoe looked down. "Were we really that obvious?"

Aneisha's brow furrowed. "What are you talking about?"

"_Byron _figured it out within five minutes." Zoe replied.

Aneisha grinned. "Zo, Byron just knows you. _I_ know how to read people. Trust me, you and Dan aren't being obvious."

Zoe smiled in relief. "Thank God."

Aneisha watched her friend's body language for a moment. "You really do hate this, don't you?"

"What part?" Zoe asked. "The fact that I have him but I don't really have him? Or the fact that one day I'm going to have to choose between Dan and MI9?"

"I'll take that as a yes." Aneisha said. "For the record, I'm sorry it had to come to this. I'm sorry you two have to keep it a secret. I really wish you didn't have to."

* * *

Zoe heard a thump and she swung herself out of bed, every sense and every muscle alert and tensed for a fight. She relaxed when she saw Dan, dressed in black jeans, dark blue t-shirt and a dark grey hoodie. "You're not going out in that, are you?"

Zoe looked down at her black baggy pants and green and white striped tank top that was just a little too small, showing a strip of skin between the top of her pants and the hem of her shirt. She looked back up at Dan before moving over to her closet, pulling out a pair of black boots, blue skinny jeans, white tank top and a lavender knit jumper. Dan turned away to give her privacy as she changed, asking, "Where are we going?"

"That's for me to know and you to find out." Dan replied.

Zoe sighed, quickly brushing through her hair. "You and your surprises."

"It's about to get even better." Dan said.

Zoe bit back a groan. "Why?"

Smirking, Dan held up a black scarf and Zoe actually groaned. "Seriously? A blindfold?"

Dan kissed her quickly. "You know you love me."

Zoe moved towards the window, carefully climbing out of the window so that she was standing on the front lawn. As Dan clambered out and closed the window behind them, Zoe lifted her face skyward, looking at her foster parents' bedroom window. She smiled as she turned to look at Dan, who kissed her quickly before he walked behind her, draping the scarf across her eyes.

Zoe stumbled and panicked a little as Dan tied a knot at the back of her head, but then he grasped her fingers tightly. "You okay?"

Zoe nodded, letting Dan lead her onto the sidewalk. "Are you going to tell me where we're going or are you going to make me play along?"

"Um . . ." Dan said, grinning. "I'm going to go with, I'm making you play along."

"Dan!" Zoe groaned. "Can you _please _just tell me where we're going?"

"Aw, Zo. Can you just humour me? Please?" Dan said, turning and giving her puppy-dog eyes, even though he knew that she couldn't see him.

Zoe sighed. "Fine. But this had better be good, I swear to God."


	24. Chapter 24

"Okay, you ready?" Dan asked, his fingers dancing across Zoe's blindfold.

"Please just take it off, Dan." Zoe said. Dan chuckled, his fingers quickly undoing the knot at the back of Zoe's head. Zoe blinked as she looked around her, taking in the landscape. "Dan, where are we?"

Dan didn't answer. Instead, he stuck two fingers in his mouth and whistled three times. It was a quick, sharp sound, ringing through the still night air.

"Dan . . ." Zoe said softly, looking around.

"Just watch." Dan said, moving so they were standing side by side. Zoe watched, her eyes flickering from side to side as a sound of four paws pounding against the ground echoed in the air. Then suddenly there was a large cheetah skidding to a stop in front them, a pair of big brown eyes looking up at Dan adoringly. Zoe yelped and backed up a few steps, but Dan just laughed and put one arm behind his back. "Sit."

Immediately, the cheetah sat back on its haunches, still completely focused on Dan as he said, "Good girl," and fed her something out of her palm.

"What the - ?" Zoe asked, taking a tentative step forward as Dan knelt down and started ruffling the cheetah's ears. The cheetah stood back up, her animal brown eyes meeting Dan's blue ones earnestly. Dan ran his hands over the animal's fur, his mouth curved into a smile he usually only saved for Zoe. "How've you been, girl?"

"So this is your _other _girlfriend." Zoe joked, kneeling down on the cheetah's other side.

Dan laughed, his blue eyes twinkling in the dark night. "I suppose you could say that." Then he took the cheetah's face in his hands. "Girl, this is Zoe. She's my girl and you're not allowed to get jealous, alright?"

In response, the cheetah simply meowed and Zoe stared at her in astonishment. "They _meow?_"

"'Course they do." Dan replied. "She's just a big pussy cat, basically."

Zoe smiled, raking a hand through the cheetah's coarse fur. "So . . . does she have a name?"

"Oh yeah. Zo, this is Maya. May, this is Zo."

Maya turned to look at Zoe and the redhead was struck by the innocence and honesty she could see in the animal's large brown eyes. At first she couldn't understand why she was so fascinated by the animal's eyes, but then she realised why. The big cat reminded her of herself somehow, before Steinberg had knocked her out and dragged her off to be turned into a monster. Before, when she'd trusted people at a moment's notice. Before her innocence had been destroyed.

"Here." Dan said, passing her a small package. "Give her one of those and she'll be your best friend forever."

Zoe dug her hand inside the packet and closed her fingers around a small square of meat before she pulled it out.

"Keep your palm flat." Dan said. "Or she might nip you accidentally."

Zoe slowly did as he said, uncurling her fingers to reveal a square of lamb in the middle of her hand. As if on cue, Maya's head swung towards Zoe and she ate the meat straight out of her hand, causing Zoe to giggle as the big cat's whiskers tickled her skin. Dan grinned as he watched, reaching out with one hand and running it across Maya's fur.

When Maya was done with the meat, she flopped down on the grass between Dan and Zoe, her big, stocky head resting on Zoe's leg. Zoe smiled and tickled behind Maya's ears, her eyebrows rising in surprise when the cheetah closed her eyes and started purring.

"She likes you." Dan said.

"How do you know all this stuff about her?" Zoe asked.

"Well I should, considering I raised her." Dan said.

"Seriously?"

Dan nodded, smiling. "My uncle's the cheetah keeper. When I was eight, one of the cheetahs had a litter of cubs and this girl here was the runt of the litter. Uncle Max took her out and she was kind of my birthday present that year."

"Kind of?"

"I got to raise her, but as soon as she was old enough, she had to come back here." Dan explained. "I've been sneaking into the zoo to see her since I was ten. _That's _how I got into parkour."

"So really, I have this girl here to thank for meeting you." Zoe said, running her fingers through Maya's coarse fur. Dan smiled as he studied the way the moonlight hit Zoe's face, the way it made her eyes sparkle. Finally, he said,. "Come on, Zo. What is it?"

Zoe sighed, raking a hand through her hair so that she stopped petting Maya. The cheetah whined and Zoe smiled, scratching behind her ears as she said quietly, "I haven't exactly been one hundred per cent honest with you."

"I'll say." Dan replied. "Zo, we promised that we would be completely honest with each other, didn't we?"

"Yeah." Zoe said quietly, suddenly unable to meet his eyes.

"So what exactly has changed here?" Dan asked. "I was completely honest with you about the formula and do you know how hard that was? For me to look you in the eye and tell you that you actually _are _the perfect clone of the Mastermind now; after two months of believing that you weren't? Do you know how hard it was?"

"Of course I know how hard that was." Zoe snapped. Somewhere, in the back of her head, a soft voice advised her that this was not the best place for them to have their first fight. She took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down. Suddenly, she realised where he was going with this. She met his eyes with a level gaze that would have made anyone squirm under its intensity. Dan, however, didn't.


	25. Chapter 25

"There's no-one else, if that's what you're thinking." Zoe said.

"All I know is that Byron comes back and suddenly you start being all secretive. What else am I supposed to think, apart from that you're sleeping with him?"

He'd crossed the line and they both knew it. Hell, even Maya knew it. Suddenly cautious, the big cat got up, her big, intelligent eyes flickering nervously between Dan and Zoe as Zoe's body language changed completely. Zoe's eyes flickered dangerously towards Dan and he was suddenly reminded of all the training she had at her disposal. As for Zoe, she had to channel all the self-control she possessed into not punching him in the face. She loved him, but _God,_ could he be infuriating.

"I would watch your mouth, Morgan." Zoe said. Her voice was level and calm and somehow, that was more terrifying than if she'd yelled each word. "Because I bet you wouldn't be as pretty as you are now without one."

Dan's jaw tightened. He had to admit – she looked innocent, but she could be pretty damn scary when she wanted to be. "Then what is it?" He asked impatiently.

Zoe took a deep breath. "Byron and Neish know . . . About us."

"You told them?" Dan asked, panic making his voice sound higher than usual.

"What? No, of course not! Byron figured it out within five minutes and as for Neish . . . I'm surprised it took her as long as it did." Zoe replied.

Dan nodded. "What'd you tell them?"

Zoe knew by 'them', he meant Byron.

"I fed Byron some story about your parents not liking me." Zoe replied easily.

Dan nodded, looking over at Maya as she returned to his side, rubbing the side of her face against his shoulder. "You should have told me, Zo."

"I know. I'm sorry, Dan. It's just . . . It's not the kind of thing you can just come out and say. 'Oh yeah, just so you know, turns out we're absolutely rubbish at this forbidden romance thing because someone I haven't seen in months figured it out within five minutes.'" Zoe said.

Dan sighed, running a hand through his blonde hair as he muttered, "Well, when you put it like that . . ." He looked over at Zoe, the anger missing from his blue eyes. "Well, we know that Neish won't tell anyone if she can help it and as for Byron . . . I really don't think he'll tell. He's annoying as hell, but he's trustworthy. I'll give him that."

Zoe nodded, her eyes cast downward. Dan reached out and pulled her towards him, his arms wrapping around her petite body. Zoe sighed, wrapping her arms around his waist as she whispered into his skin, "I really am sorry, Dan. I just didn't know how to tell you."

Dan tightened his arms around her, pressing a kiss to her hair. "I know. I'm sorry too, Zo. I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions about you and Byron."

Zoe smiled, blinking back tears. She really hated fighting with him, as maddening as his male pride made him sometimes. "I love you, Dan."

Dan pulled away so he could see her properly – see those bright green eyes, her bright auburn hair, her soft mouth.

"I love you too, Zoe. So, so much." Dan said, resting his forehead against hers. He tilted his head to the side, his eyes closing. Just before his mouth brushed against hers, he felt something soft press into his cheek and he stifled a groan as Zoe giggled, turning so he could see Maya looking up at him hopefully.

"God, Maya, you're a pain in the ass." Dan said, pulling a piece of meat out of his packet of food and offering it to her. Maya happily chomped it up, chewing eagerly on the treat. Happy, the cheetah flopped down on the grass a few metres away from Dan and Zoe.

"And as for you . . ." Dan said, turning to the redhead. Zoe smiled as he kissed her, his lips soft and warm against her own. Zoe wrapped her arms around his neck, feeling his hair tickling her fingers. She could feel his hands on her hips before sliding to wrap around her waist, holding her close. She gasped as she felt Dan's tongue brushing against her bottom lip, her fingers sliding into his hair as his tongue slipped into her mouth. Zoe felt Dan's arms tighten around her, his touch seeming to burn through her clothes, as if he was touching her bare skin.

Finally, they had to stop when a lack of oxygen became an issue. Gaping, Zoe, her eyes still closed and a small smile playing on her lips, rested her forehead against Dan's and said, "We should fight more often, if the result's going to be _that_."

Dan laughed, his arms still wrapped securely around her waist. Then he sighed, one hand reaching up to brush a stray lock of hair out of Zoe's eyes as they opened and she asked, "What's wrong?"

"We should probably get going." Dan replied, reluctantly untangling his arms from around Zoe. He got up, brushing himself off as he helped her up. Sensing that their impending departure was coming, Maya got up and walked towards them, her gait suddenly just as reluctant as the two teens felt.

Dan took a step towards the cheetah and spoke her name, his voice barely audible, even in the still night air. Maya started towards him and then sprung up onto her back legs, placing her front paws on Dan's shoulders. The blonde laughed, his hands going to the animal's sides, raking his fingers through her fur. She made a soft whining noise as she stared earnestly into Dan's eyes, as if she was begging him not to go.

"I know, May." Dan murmured. "I don't want to go. But I have to."

Maya sadly dropped down onto all fours, her tail drooping. Dan knelt down beside the cheetah, his fingers raking through the fur on the back of her neck as he said something to her that Zoe couldn't hear.

When he was done, he rocked back in heels, watching with a smile as Maya started towards Zoe. She gave Zoe the same treatment she'd given Dan, shifting all her weight to her back legs as she placed her front paws on Zoe's shoulders. The only thing that saved Zoe from falling backwards was her fast reflexes, allowing her to put one foot behind her to steady herself as she stared into Maya's big brown eyes. She patted the cheetah's sides gently, a small smile playing on her mouth.

"You're a very pretty girl, you know that?"

Maya brightened up a little, as if she was saying, _I know I am._

"And I bet Dan tells you that all the time, doesn't he?" Zoe asked.

Maya meowed, dropping back onto all fours. Zoe glanced at Dan, half-expecting him to make a witty remark about her talking to animals who couldn't understand her. Instead, he looked a little sad and a lot reluctant to leave as they walked towards the fence they'd climbed over to get in.

Maya whined and started after them, taking the hem of Dan's jeans in her big teeth and tugging on them. Dan sighed, turning and kneeling down. "May . . ."

Maya whined, touching the tip of her nose against Dan's. Watching them, Zoe realised that the two had a bond that she couldn't even begin to understand. Zoe imagined them when Maya had lived with Dan as a little cub – a tiny golden ball of fluff with a pair of big brown eyes. She saw Dan, as a boy who had lost a lot of his baby fat, but still had yet to grow into his body, with big blue eyes that glittered with innocence. She knew that he'd be gentle and compassionate with the life he'd been entrusted with, treating it just as seriously as he would if he'd been entrusted with the life of a newborn baby.

Zoe watched as Dan wrapped his arms around Maya's neck, burying his face in her fur. Finally, Dan let go of Maya and she whined, but she sat down and simply watched sadly as Dan and Zoe climbed the fence.


End file.
